Girls and ICT: perceptions, dualisms and reality
Three recent studies investigated the topic of females in ICT. Lang et al. (2010) explored the dualisms between societal perceptions of ICT careers and the actual experiences of women working in the field. In a similar study, Griffiths and Richardson (2010) asked 500 British women about their pathways into ICT professions. Both studies found that ICT stereotypes still exist but there have been improvements for women in these roles over the last decade. This research has direct implications for girls; the researchers suggest that girls at school should be made aware of the variety of ICT careers and what ICT professionals do in their working day.Denner (2011) examined middle-school girls’ interest in computing and concluded that computing programs must fit within girls’ values and interests. Abstracts from these studies can be found in the Girls, ICT and Cyberspace section of the Research abstract and articles page. (The pdf is ICT abstracts 2010-2011).