Professor Meraz gave her lecture on the rapidly decreasing
number of women entering the technology science & computer science field
over time, and how we differentiate “women’s work” from “men’s work”. Meraz
presents many informative charts and graphs showing statistically how much of a
decrease there has being since the 80’s for women in the computer science
field. It seems like women “go along” with gender conformities since it is the
easier thing to do then to be ridiculed or questioned.
Meraz gave a great example within her lecture of how society views women in the workplace. Diner dash is a videogame most people have heard of or played either online, or on their smart phone. The games is based around multitasking, being able to cook, clean, communicate, seat guests, etc and of course the only “player” is a girl. If we don’t want to be looked at in only the domestic manner, then why do so many women play this game, and not see a problem with it? Analyzing games in general it seem that’s women are seen more in domestic type games and scenarios, where the men are portrayed as the hero, or combative action filled games. Why can’t a woman be the hero? And what would society say if these roles were switched?
Meraz’s lecture correlates directly with chapter 2 in our book, where we learned about stereotyping, and also the nature/nurture/function approaches. Stereotyping is present throughout the lecture relating to the shrinking pipeline theory, and when discussing the pressure women feel. Many students gave examples of themselves or friends actually switching out of the computer science majors in college because they were surrounded by male teachers and colleagues and were perceived to think that they would not make it. If these women or students followed the nurture approach while growing up, the same outcome would arise. It is very common for girls to be nurtured or taught to do girly things, like play with barbies or dolls, where boys have been taught from the start that they should play with videogames and trains. If this is how most of our society was raised, then of course the boys are going to outnumber the girls because of the approach they followed.
Meraz gave a great example within her lecture of how society views women in the workplace. Diner dash is a videogame most people have heard of or played either online, or on their smart phone. The games is based around multitasking, being able to cook, clean, communicate, seat guests, etc and of course the only “player” is a girl. If we don’t want to be looked at in only the domestic manner, then why do so many women play this game, and not see a problem with it? Analyzing games in general it seem that’s women are seen more in domestic type games and scenarios, where the men are portrayed as the hero, or combative action filled games. Why can’t a woman be the hero? And what would society say if these roles were switched?
Meraz’s lecture correlates directly with chapter 2 in our book, where we learned about stereotyping, and also the nature/nurture/function approaches. Stereotyping is present throughout the lecture relating to the shrinking pipeline theory, and when discussing the pressure women feel. Many students gave examples of themselves or friends actually switching out of the computer science majors in college because they were surrounded by male teachers and colleagues and were perceived to think that they would not make it. If these women or students followed the nurture approach while growing up, the same outcome would arise. It is very common for girls to be nurtured or taught to do girly things, like play with barbies or dolls, where boys have been taught from the start that they should play with videogames and trains. If this is how most of our society was raised, then of course the boys are going to outnumber the girls because of the approach they followed.
Justine Cassel
is famed for her theory of the “game movement” which I cannot agree with more.
Cassel claims that when our generation was growing up, commercials and
advertising failed to represent the computer as a girl’s toy, and was mainly
for a boys use. I can remember may commercials for small play computers with
learning software games which all featured young boys. Growing up with two
brothers, I also directly remember my brothers receiving computer games and
toys and small electronics for Christmas and birthdays when I was receiving
easy bake ovens and a toy kitchen set. This difference definitely didn’t come
from my parents who never once would have denied me a “boys toy” if I wanted
one. The logical and almost obvious conclusion for this phenomenon must be the
advertisement for these games. When you are young you learn so much so quickly
and almost mimic what you see on television. I can guarantee that if this type
of advertising was different and not gender based, the outcome of women in
computer science fields would be different.
Lauren, I didn't even think of relating Professor Meraz's lecture to chapter 2. I feel like thinking of discrimination in computer sciences on a stereotypical level adds a really interesting level of analysis.
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