Reflections on Gender and Science: Tenth Anniversary Paperback Edition
by Frances Grundy
Category: Computers

We see girls and women everywhere using electronic devices; phones, tablets, laptops very proficiently, so what’s the problem? It is a real, a serious and a long-standing issue. The number of girls entering and staying in computing education is still woefully low. Women are still not present at the centre of power where decisions are made determining how electronic equipment will develop. They are in reality mere users. Women in science and technology have always been pushed into the background by means of all sorts of ruses. The stories of how women scientists have suffered the same indignities since the 17th century: gender pay gaps, ridicule, sexist comments and being silenced make fascinating and relevant reading. And all this remains true in computing. RIGHTING THE WRONG looks again at the foundations of computing: mathematics, engineering and, arguably, science and shows how the masculinity of these still pervades computing education and the industry. This pervasiveness lays the groundwork for so much of the on-line abuse girls and women suffer. By drawing attention to the distant and more recent past Frances encourages readers to become more aware of what continues to this day; she urges them to challenge new developments and not to put up any longer with being silenced.