Is Technology Just for Boys?

Sherry Turkle comments on creating equity in technology education:

"Girls and boys will come to technology from different paths; however, the idea is to create a curriculum that is flexible enough so that different people (not just in terms of gender) will make the technology their own in their own way."

An Education World e-Interview with Sherry Turkle
Sherry Turkle, one of the co-chairs of the American Association of University Women's 15-member Commission on Technology, Gender, and Teacher Education, shares her thoughts on issues arising from the commission's recent report. See the Education World story about that report, Educating Girls in the New Computer Age: A Report on Equity in Technology.
Sherry Turkle, a sociology professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a licensed clinical psychologist and a noted expert on gender and identity. Turkle has written extensively on the psychological and cultural impact of the computer and Time Digital Magazine cited her as one of the top 50 "Cyber Elite."

In an exclusive Education World e-interview, Turkle shares her personal perspective on the technological gender gap and on how schools can help promote gender equity in technology education.

Education World: According to Sharon Schuster, president of the American Association of University Women's (AAUW) Education Foundation, the report, Tech Savvy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age, was commissioned because "girls are alarmingly underrepresented in computer science programs and technology fields." Why, do you think, do so few girls choose to pursue technology courses and careers?

EW: The report suggests that boys are more interested in how technology works and girls are more interested in how technology can be used. If that's true, why not capitalize on those differences by creating separate educational programs for boys and girls?

Turkle: Girls and boys will come to technology from different paths; however, the idea is to create a curriculum that is flexible enough so that different people (not just in terms of gender) will make the technology their own in their own way.

EW: Do you think girls and boys are equally well suited for the same technology jobs -- or do you think their different approaches to technology make them better suited for different types of jobs? For example, might men make better programmers and women better instructional designers?

Turkle: I don't think it's a question of whether men and women are suited to different technology jobs. They may well have different interests, and educators need to get out the message that there is a very wide range of jobs that demand computer fluency. I cannot predict whether, in the end, there will be more male programmers and more female instructional designers -- although that would be the natural extension of current attitudes. I think that once women develop computer fluency and a sense that they belong in this field, they may well find their interests broadening considerably.

Click to read another Education World story, Educating Girls in the Tech Age: A Report on Equity, which includes one former teacher's personal perspective on the computer gender gap.