| Summary |
Annotation The information technology revolution is transforming almost every aspect of society,but girls and women are largely out of the loop. Although women surf the Web in equal numbers to menand make a majority of online purchases, few are involved in the design and creation of newtechnology. It is mostly men whose perspectives and priorities inform the development of computinginnovations and who reap the lion's share of the financial rewards. As only a small fraction of highschool and college computer science students are female, the field is likely to remain a "maleclubhouse," absent major changes.In Unlocking the Clubhouse, social scientist Jane Margolis andcomputer scientist and educator Allan Fisher examine the many influences contributing to the gendergap in computing. The book is based on interviews with more than 100 computer science students ofboth sexes from Carnegie Mellon University, a major center of computer science research, over aperiod of four years, as well as classroom observations and conversations with hundreds of collegeand high school faculty. The interviews capture the dynamic details of the female computingexperience, from the family computer kept in a brother's bedroom to women's feelings of alienationin college computing classes. The authors investigate the familial, educational, and institutionalorigins of the computing gender gap. They also describe educational reforms that have made adramatic difference at Carnegie Mellon -- where the percentage of women entering the School ofComputer Science rose from 7% in 1995 to 42% in 2000 -- and at high schools around thecountry. |
