Ganito Panel Fri1620P

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Internet Research 11.0 Sustainability, Participation, Action Panel Proposal

Theme: Internet and an equal and balanced society

Quantity and Quality: Patterns of Female Engagement with ICTs"

Chair:

Larissa Hjorth, Senior Lecturer, Games Program, School of Media and Communication,RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.

Organizers:

Carla GANITOYana BREINDL

Abstract:

The recent uptake of ICTs by women masks significant and ongoing cultural andpolitical differences in the articulation of gender issues. There are different culturaland political dynamics that obstruct gender-equal participation with ICTs at boththe societal and research level. The panel proposes to explore and expose these

dynamics in a cross-cultural, multi-disciplinary and self-reflexive fashion.

Description:

The recent uptake of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) bywomen masks significant ongoing cultural and political differences in thearticulation of gender issues. The panel wants to promote a debate on theparticipation and technological appropriation of women from a cross-cultural andcross-disciplinary perspective. At a meta-level we intend to conduct this explorationin a self-reflexive manner, thus linking our own roles as women ICT researcherswith the broader gender environment of our research. The panel will present fivesites of research bringing to the table different cultural contexts.

Different socio-structural dynamics are at play behind the growing number ofwomen adopting and participating in new technologies, as well as those involved intechnology research. Quantity does not ensure quality, and the quest for numericalequality may be distorting if not reifying the patterns and modes of womensadoption of technology and attendant inequalities. While much work has been doneon addressing quantitative inequalities, we believe that qualitative imbalances mustbe further studied in order to truly work towards a more complex andcomprehensive understanding of womens engagement with ICTs.

This panel intends to foster a cross-disciplinary discussion on the two-tieredchallenge of female engagement with ICTs: (1) at the base level of participation inmale-dominated techno-cultures and female modes of technological appropriation;and (2) at the meta-level of women ICT researchers engaging with the former base


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issue. We seek to explore the following questions: How do the challenges identifiedat the civil-societal level feed into challenges faced by women ICT researchers?How does the male domination of technological fields influence the methodologicaldirection of female scholars, and how do women negotiate and navigate throughthese challenges? What strengths can women scholars bring to the table, and howcan more quantitatively and qualitatively gender-equal scholarship be fosteredwithin ICT research?

We intend to tease out these issues from a cross-cultural and cross-disciplinaryperspective, with participants from a variety of locations and backgrounds.Collectively, we will explore how we might foster women's participation intechnology, how to empower women and foster their critical and creative attitude;why the gender gap in digital content production persists; why women are highlyunderrepresented within modes of technopolitical participation and activism; andwhat gender-roles technology producers may encode into their products, thusconstraining womens free interpretation of technological artifacts; and how eventhe researcher itself is constrained by its gender when tackling technologicalcultures.Our sites of study are varied, ranging from the Donestech Collective in Spain, theAustralian Digital Content Industry, and selected internet activist movements, tothe production and marketing of mobile phones to women in Portugal.What is the quality and the quantity of the impact traditional gender (design)scripting has upon the interactions between women and ICTs? We intend to conductthis exploration in a self-reflexive manner, thus linking our own roles as women ICTresearchers with the broader gender environment of our research.

Panel contributions:

1. Nria Vergs Bosch , Alex Hache , Eva Cruells Lopez : Deciphering LeLas Code: Access, uses and desires of women in ICT.

Research on gender and technology has traditionally focused on studying the exclusion ofwomen in ICT. In contrast, Technologist Womens experiences and their strategies leading totheir inclusion in ICT have received less attention. Motivated by our previous experience intechnoactivism and the observation of a remarkable presence of women with the DonestechCollective , in 2006, we initiated a research project on the access, uses of and desires of womenwho had been involved in technology. For this we created a website, gathered information onwomen and technology, generated and participated in meetings and workshops and,especially, collected experiences of women technologists. A call was made through theInternet to answer a semi-qualitative questionnaire online and, besides that, several in-depthinterviews and focus groups were conducted in different Spanish Regions .Our findings suggesta great diversity of women pathways to ICT as well as heterogeneous technological practicesamong women technologists. Moreover, our results show that Women in ICT are

curious, wantto be empowered, distrust and dislike power relations existing in the technologicalenvironments, try to maintain a critical and creative attitude towards technology and arewilling to share the knowledge gained with others.


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2. Anitza GENEVE: Acts of Agency: Female Interactive Content Creators in the Australian context

The empirical findings from an exploratory case study provide insight into the research problem which asks why are there less women, than men, participating in the

Australian Digital Content Industry (DCI)? The case study responds to the paucity ofstudies that focus on the lived experiences of female interactive content creators.Primary data sources include, interviews with women employed in the multimedia orgames production sectors. Secondary sources of data include; industry whitepapers,stakeholder interviews and documents such as industry blogs. The findings suggest thatthere are a plethora of influences and these may be better understood through a lens ofhuman agency. A lens of agency sensitizes the researcher, to both constraining andenabling influences. The theoretical scaffold encourages analysis at the levelof: environment, individual and mediating relationships between. Research outcomesinclude, rich descriptive insights based on the female DCI professional narratives and anemerging theory of Digital Agency.

3. Yana BREINDL : Technopolitical activism and gender gaps

Despite general increases in women's representation and participation in most areas ofthe political process, significant gender gaps remain in important fields. This is the caseof techno-political activism whose members stem from a predominantly male-dominated hacker culture. Technology has been masculinized and controlled by an elitefor thousands of years. While women movements claimed equal rights for men andwomen, the development of computers and their growing interconnection that led to theinternet remained a male prerogative. This presentation proposes to explore the

presence of (or lack of) women in techno-political movements whose aim is to influencecurrent debates on intellectual property rights, internet regulation and civil rights indigital environments. On the basis of case studies of two movements currently active atthe European level, we explore what appears to be gender-based work divisions, theroles occupied by the few women active in these movements and, their perception bytheir male counterparts.

4. Carla GANITO & Ctia FERREIRA: Scripting gender in mobile phones: Howtraditional gender stereotypes influence producers in the Portuguese mobile industry.

The mobile phone is an interesting technology to study on the scope of gender, becausecontrary to other technologies, especially computers and the Internet, mobile phoneshave been adopted almost identically by men and women around the globe.

Nevertheless egalitarian does not mean equal. On the supply side, mobile phonecompanies either neglect this difference or use traditional gender stereotypes to dealwith it. They seem to design phones to match the traditional female and the malecultures embedding technology with what Ellen van Oost designates by GenderScripts. The focus of this paper is to unveil and understand constrains producers havein the interpretation of mobile phones use by women, and the impact of this scriptingon womens appropriation of this technology. A qualitative methodology will be used

based on interviews to marketing and human resource directors and analysis of

marketing campaigns for new product launches.


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5. Bridget BLODGETT: Inside Outsider: The role of researcher gender at the intersectionof video game and culture studies .

Internet and video game cultures remain dominated by a hyper-masculine rhetoric that isoften discouraging to women and non-dominant cultural groups, keeping them from full

participation within the community. Despite increasing numbers of users among these non-dominant groups, the infamous saying- There are no women on the Internet remains notonly popular but almost reified among the video game groups. This paper will examine howthe perceived gender of the researcher shapes the communication of protest events andcategorizations of other groups within the virtual world. Drawing from two case studies invirtual worlds this research was developed through interviews, discourse analysis, andresearcher observations. A gender lens will be used to look at how researcher gender affectsassumptions about insider and cultural knowledge. The authors hope to examine the positiveand negatives effects of researcher gender presentation in virtual environments for the gainingof detailed information regarding in-game or cultural artifacts or occurrences.

BIOGRAPHIES

Anitza GENEVE

Anitza Geneve is a scholarship PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Science andTechnology at Queensland University of Technology. Anitza has taught in both the

vocational education sector in Australia and the United Kingdom and university level asa sessional lecturer. She has held a teaching position with Southbank Institute ofTechnology, Brisbane, for over ten years, were she specialises in the design anddevelopment of multimedia, screen and games products. Her PhD research topicexplores influences on womens participation in the multimedia and games productsector of the Australia Digital Content Industry through a lens of human 'digital'agency.

Bridget BLODGETT

Bridget is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at the College of Information Sciences andTechnology at the Pennsylvania State University. She has recently completed her thirdyear of graduate classes and successfully defended her dissertation proposal inDecember of 2008. Her research involves the use of technology in virtual worlds andthe social impacts of virtual worlds on offline life. Her dissertation research focuses onhow technology impacts protest movements in virtual worlds. She is currently engagedas a research assistant on the EVOSTA project studying the virtual community thatsurrounds the use of the Hi-Res CT scanner at Penn State. Bridget has herundergraduate degree from the College of Information Sciences and Technology at thePennsylvania State University. Where she focused on the Design and Development oftechnology.


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Yana BREINDL

Yana Breindl is a Ph.D candidate in Information and Communication Sciences at theUniversit Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in Belgium. She holds a Bachelor and Master'sdegree in Information and Communication Sciences with a specialisation in Journalism

(2007). Her academic work deals with digital activism that aims at influencingEuropean decision-making. She is particularly interested in the articulation betweentraditional politics and so-called "life-politics" and the link between online and offlinerealms.

Carla GANITO

Carla Ganito is a doctoral student in the Human Sciences Faculty at Portuguese CatholicUniversity, where she also lectures Digital Communication and Marketing at theundergraduate level. Her PhD focuses on gender appropriations of the mobile phone inPortugal. She holds a Master of Management and her dissertation dealt with the impact

of mobility in the Portuguese Content Industry. Besides her PhD research, Carla's mainresearch areas are entertainment, gender and technology, new media and education. Sheis the author of the book: "The Mobile Phone as Entertainment2 (2006) where she tracesthe mobile entertainment trends in Portugal.

Ctia FERREIRA:

Ctia Ferreira is PhD researcher on Communication Sciences at the Portuguese CatholicUniversity. Her area of research is communication, new technologies and virtual gamesand the object of study will be the social change in Second Life. She is graduated inEnglish and German Modern Languages and Literatures, and has a specialization in

publishing and editing techniques, both from the Lisbon University. She has a MA onCommunication Sciences from Portuguese Catholic University. Her masters degreedissertation was focused in the relation established between the Portuguese emigrants inthe USA and the homeland through the new technologies as internet.


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DRAFT PAPERS

Nria Vergs Bosch

Gender and ICT Research Programme. IN3. Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.

Copolis Research Group. Universitat de Barcelona.

Donestech Collective

Alex Hache


Eva Cruells Lopez


Deciphering LeLa's Code: Digging in the significance of the Internet for the ICT access, uses anddesires of women technologists

Abstract

Research on gender and technology has traditionally focused on studying the exclusion of

women in ICT. In contrast, technologist womens experiences and their strategies leading to

their inclusion in ICT have received less attention. Motivated by our previous experience in

technoactivism and the observation of a remarkable presence of women, within theDonestech Collective , we initiated a research project on the access, uses of and desires of

women who had been involved in technology. For this we created a website, gatheredinformation on women and technology, generated and participated in meetings andworkshops and, especially, collected experiences of women technologists. A call was madethrough the Internet to answer a semi-qualitative questionnaire online and, besides that,several in-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted in different Spanish Regions. Ourfindings suggest a great diversity of women pathways to ICT as well as heterogeneous

technological practices among women technologists where Internet plays a significant role.

Moreover, our results show that women in ICT are curious and enthusiastic, want to beempowered, are willing to share the knowledge gained with others, distrust and dislike powerrelations existing in the technological environments and try to maintain a critical and creativeattitude towards technology.


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Keywords: technology, ICT, gender, learning, desires, e-Inclusion, Internet, activist research,feminisms, cyberfeminism, Donestech

Introduction

In the 90s, the feminist theory of technology experienced a renewed optimism with the riseof ICT and the development of the third-wave feminism. Departing from the potential ofnew technologies, in particular Internet, for the transformation of society and women,feminism is loaded with assurance through a practical and theoretical renovation supportingthe participation of women in technology encouraged by its opportunities for gendertransformation (Haraway, 1991; Plant, 1997; Wajcman, 2006; Sveningsen and Sunden, 2007;Landstrom, 2007, among others). This research criticizes gender inequalities, and emphasizeson the possibilities for women participation through ICT in order to overcome thesedisparities. This potential for transformation lies in the provision of new possibilities forappropriation by women of these new technologies underlining their horizontal developmentprocesses (Hawthorne and Klein, 1999; Nuez and Garcia, 2009) the production of new spacesto occupy like cyberspace (Flanagan and Booth, 2002; Sveningsen and Sunden, 2007), and,above all, the power to de-construct predetermined categories and binaries applying togender (Haraway, 1991; Landstrom, 2007) and upon the interpretation of what stands fortechnology (Lerman et al, 2003; Wacjman, 2006).

However, research focusing on the analysis of the presence of women in ICT has tended toconcentrate on mechanisms explaining their exclusion from ICT (Cohoon and Aspray, 2006;

Castao, 2008). Experiences and strategies of women technologists to enter technologicalfields have received less attention. As noted by several researchers (Sorensen, 2002; Lagesen,2007, Faulkner and Lie, 2007), there is a need for a more in-depth understanding of currentmechanisms of inclusion. This brought our collective of women and new technologies,Donestech (Dones is the Catalan word for Women and tech refers to technology), to bespecifically interested by processes of inclusion (e-Inclusion and social inclusion with ICT) andthe understanding of pathways for learning developed by women who already accede, useand/or develop technologies.

For instance, part of feminist literature of technology has identified certain motivations that

trigger the interest of women for technologies. This can be summarized, according to Sorensen(2002), as duty , expressing an utilitarian motivation, and love, expressing an enthusiasticmotivation. Interestingly, feminist literature suggests duty as the first motivation attributedto women while love is attributed to men. Accordingly this gender distribution ofmotivations denies and renders the experiences of access to technologies by women, driven byenthusiasm, invisible (Sorensen, 2002; Lagesen, 2008).

Previous literature related to gender e-Inclusion has already identified a number ofauspicious factors facilitating the entrance and immersion of women in technology (Margolisand Fisher, 2001; Sorensen, 2002; Lagesen, 2007, 2008, Faulkner and Lie, 2007). In summary,the first factor identifies the importance of a context that is potentially (or is perceived as)women friendly. In this regard, the existence of tools, spaces and contents of interest and/or


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useful for women is a necessity (this is the second factor). Thirdly, as with any other type oflearning dynamics, there is a need for available training resources and access to information.Fourthly, infrastructures and facilities to access ICT (e.g. broadband, computers, other devices)are still very much relevant pointing therefore at the importance of policies to develop e-Inclusion initiatives targeting the entrance and use of information and knowledge societies byall, anywhere and anytime. Fifth, the existence of role models and other mentoring, tutoringand support mechanisms is important. It can be achieved either by shedding light on the roleof women in the development of sciences and technologies, or by enabling mechanisms,spaces and groups aiming at transferring their knowledge on ICT issues to their peers. Finally,the perception by women of career prospects and employment opportunities related to ICT ishighly relevant. Thus, taking into account these elements constitutes a pre-requisite to enablethe access and inclusion of women into technologies, inasmuch as it empowers them tobecome more deeply involved by participating also into ICT design and development from anactive, critical and emancipatory perspective.

Cyberfeminist activist research

Motivated by our own technoactivist experiences and the observation of a significantpresence of women in these areas of participation in 2006 within the Donestech collective, webegan a process of activist research regarding the access, uses and desires of women alreadyinvolved in technology. Our purpose was to offer new platforms of expression and analysis oftheir experiences and views, while we intended to decipher lela's code about why and howwomen participate in technologies, investigating which desires were expressed regarding bothtechnologies and (the women) themselves. We wondered about why women acceded totechnologies, through which pathways, enablers, tools, and which type of tactics they weredeveloping to address or overcome limiting conditions and be able to build a relationship withtechnologies. All this to make visible the specificities of women in ICT, enhance access ofwomen to technology, consider the relationships of women with ICT and ourselves, continuecreating networks and incorporating technologies in our research and in our technoactivistpractices. As stated in our manifesto, we have been entangled, more and more and more ... sothe LeLa's Code Project, has become a megaproject related to and that relates women withtechnology.

Our cyberfeminist activist research is based on an intensive use and practice with ICT which

intends through the production of critical knowledge, creative action, social and technoartivism to generate political and social gender transformations from a dynamic, fluid,heterogeneous and performative perspective (Vergs et al, 2009). In order to do so, wecreated a website (www.donestech.net), collected information, generated and participated inmeetings, workshops, training and, we focused in mapping, identifying, compiling, analysingand communicating experiences and views of women technologists who generously lent theirtime to share their experiences with us. Although we were initially based in Barcelona,Donestech collective increasingly became highly present in the cyberspace and its membersincreasingly became nomads. Therefore we tend to collect and disseminate information indifferent languages such as Catalan, Spanish, English and French.


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Specifically, in 2007 an open call was made, simulating the snowball technique viaspecialized mailing lists, specific groups related to women and ICT and the Internet to respondto a semi-qualitative on-line survey. In parallel, between 2007 and 2008, we also conductedmultiple face-to-face interviews and discussion groups. Although we iniciated our research inour Catalan context, soon we extended it to the Spanish context with some internationalinsights (Donestech, 2008). Knowledge presented in this article is based on 302 online surveys(78% of them residents in the Spanish State), over 60 in-depth interviews of womentechnologists carried out in Barcelona and in technology related international events and fourfocus groups with women technologists carried out in three different Spanish Regions:Andalusia, Catalonia and Madrid. Collection, analysis and dissemination was developedthrough a three-pronged approach based on content analysis, an intense use of technologiesconnected to cyberfeminist practices and transdisciplinarity. Thus, various disciplines such associology, statistics, computer sciences, interactive visualizations, multimedia, audiovisualproduction and artivism have been involved.

Internet as a powerful enabler for the a ccess, uses and desires of women technologists

Our research did not start from rigid or predetermined definitions of women and technology,in order to avoid to fall into a predefined and specific universe of women technologists.Women participating in our research consider themselves as advanced users of ICT andbecause of this shared experience they tended to define themselves as women technologists.

On one side, profiles proved to be diverse and heterogeneous among advanced users,creators and developers of ICT involved. On the other side, our statistic and content analysis of

the surveyed sample brought a set of predominant socio-economic characteristics to light. Thelatter consists in relatively young women, living in big cities, college educated, gainfullyemployed with an upper-middle social position even tough their financial earnings are more orless in the one thousand Euros monthly range . Mostly they are single with a partner, usuallywithout persons at charge or dependants and with some free time to spend. Those elementsimply that the development of e-Inclusion strategies should take into account, besides thegender factor, socio-demographic and socio-economic inequalities caused by place of origin,class and age. Needless to say, elderly, immigrants, ethnics minorities, residents of rural anddeprived areas, uneducated or low income women can be doubly excluded in their possibilityto accede, use and develop technologies.

Also, a gap in time can be noted regarding the first memory of contact with technology andmore advanced and conscious technological immersion. Conscious immersion generally takesplace many years after first contact. First experiences with ICT are related, by order ofrelevance, to: formative experiences, use and appropriation of various ICT devices, usingInternet, performing tasks with specific programs, and finally gaming as well as developmentand experiences of use of ICT within activism. In relation to many first experiences Internetplays a significant role, either because of its meaning in regard to information searchcapabilities, either for its communicational aspects through the creation of a first e-mail or firsttime use of e-mail, chat and equivalents. For instance a women graduated in Wellness

Management Systems told us: My first access was to use Internet and creating my first emailaccount.


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Motivations behind this first access bear upon curiosity, passion for technology, but alsotraining and employment needs. Thus the view that motivations of women based onenthusiasm should be (re)considered and enhanced in order to promote the access to ICT bymany others is confirmed by our research. Moreover, one motivation can easily lead toanother, as shown by the testimony of this Web developer and expert in digital marketing: Atthe beginning I used it for office applications and labour issues, then I used Internet for fun and

fascination.

Factors that have made their access to ICT possible are, in order of relevance though oftenoverlapping with each other, first through training and work, and then because of a financialwellness to purchase connection and ICT household, third a socio-affective environmentrelated to or motivated by technologies, fourth the existence of the Internet and itscommunicational opportunities, and, finally, other elements such as having free time or havingpersonal and professional requirements to use ICT. Thus, Internet is again felt as a key enablingfactor for the access of women to technology. In that regard, a journalist and film-maker told

us that:

In terms of access and production of knowledge in order to learn how to use and/or developICT, women technologists combine different approaches, again generally activatedsimultaneously, but in which the autodidact way predominates combined - or not - with formaltraining. If we look at formal academic courses, almost half of the participants didn't pursuescientific and/or technical studies, but rather social sciences or humanities. Furthermore,women with a disciplinary scientific-technical background show an equally pronounced split

between different disciplines. Autodidact pathways of learning, whether or not combined withcourses, are again marked by the presence of the Internet. Women learn through forums andonline communities, they search and download information via the Internet (texts and audio-visual contents) and they develop an extensive communication with their referential socialnetworks on the Internet. As shown by the testimony of a photographer, video and radioproducer:

Having a computer at home and Internet at a very young age, and the fact of studyingCommunication and constantly the need to use computers, manuals, video editing, layout tools[enabled her to access technology]

I am an autodidact, as also are my friends which have given me tips, I go also toInternet discussion forums when it comes to software, buy books and in general ask a lot ofquestions.

With regard to uses, our sample shows a great level of diversity in working and in the area of

technological applications. Women technologists develop anything from website to hardwaredevices, build art installations, manage and administer databases and servers, analysecomputer processes, produce electronic music, audiovisual, podcasts. They teach and train ICT,provide help and develop How to's, documentation and manuals. They write posts, blogs ande-poetry and they sew and wash clothes with domestic appliances. Less commonlyencountered occupations might relate to hardware maintenance, network administration andsecurity issues. Also noteworthy is the use and knowledge of free software, especially bycreators and developers of ICT. Once again Internet plays and important role as enabler ofknowledge processes making possible to find, download and test applications, accede tolearning spaces and other areas for communication, documentation and socializing

surrounding communities of development of Free Software.


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Women technologists' interest in learning about and disseminating free software and freeapplications can be also highlighted and interpreted as a mean for gender transformation. Thisfact is particularly interesting because of stereotypes stating that women are not (interested)in free software and thus contributing to its transforming potential. As told to us by a digitalartist: That's why we need free software, in French operating system is called systmed'exploitation, then I suppose that owning your proper operating/exploitation system is theminimum, and change it as you want is the least of the minimum. Also the idea of sharing andexchanging together is powerful. There are no copies, everyone has the original, the possibilityof sharing the same things is important.

In addition, our analysis shows that technological practice is not as solitary and asocial as iscommonly believed. In this sense Internet plays a crucial role not only as a repository fordocumentation, but also as a space of communication and interaction for lifelong learning,inasmuch as it is a place where to develop new electronic identities, social capital andnetworks of support, solidarity and friendship. A topographical engineer expressed it thus:

Exchange of geomatic information with other departments just works fine. In my private life Iam a regular user of Internet forums as a source of information and knowledge and exchangewith peers.

Women technologists are also critical with current ICT development and have expressedindividual and collective needs and desires of improvement. For instance, almost all womensurveyed aim at learning more and being able to do more (things) with technology. Amongthem, once again, tasks and skills closely related to Internet such as improving knowledge forWeb development, transmission of contents over the Internet or information management areclearly pointed out at as priorities. As a high school teacher expressed it: I want more choice

of video creation tools, image and web and I want to be introduced to radio on Internet and participate to joint projects that can be disseminated over the Internet.

But they also want to improve their learning and practices in order to develop them in betterconditions. Internet is seen as a necessary means to create and maintain areas of contentcreation, sharing and networking. In this sense women recognize its potential for social andgender transformation by improving conditions of access and use. Therefore they demandtechnologies and an Internet designed to be accessible, shaped by flows of free knowledge andinformation, with more security and more autonomy and of course remaining economicallysuitable and sustainable. This was expressed by a statistical computing engineer: Regarding

barriers of access, phone companies and Internet Service Providers should be more controlledand provide better service in Spain where it is still very expensive.

Finally, women technologists want better working conditions and better distribution of timefacilities. In general, they claim against existent gender discrimination, especially genderstereotypes that suggest that women are misplaced or exotic freaks in the domain of ICT. Thiswas underlined by a student in Industrial Engineering: I wish people didn't look surprisedwhen you're a girl and say that you are also a student of electronics, and a computer-geek

Conclusions


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Women technologists access and use technologies in many and diverse ways. Practices andimmersion with ICT provide from non linear trajectories where Internet plays an importantrole as an enabler and facilitator. The analysis of women technologists' experiences and viewsunderlines the importance that should be paid to non formal and informal pathways, asenablers to enthusiast motivations for the access and gaining of knowledge by women on ICT.The heterogeneity and fluidity of practices invested also resonates with the variety ofsociabilities taking place currently inside the so called technological field, analysis of thelatter points at the persistence of gender discriminations. Therefore in order to overcomethose more research is needed, as well as policies enabling the activation of interests andconcerns to acquire further ICT skills by women, the recognition of the potential and centralrole of the Internet and ICTs for gender and social transformation and, finally, the need forinclusive measures should be addressed, geared towards the multidimensional aspects of therelationship between gender and technologies.

Aknowledgements

To Patrice Riemens for his kind revision of English. We would like to express our greatappreciation to all participants for sharing their lives and time with us.

References

CASTAO, Cecilia. Ed. La segunda brecha digital. Madrid. Ctedra ediciones. 2008.

COHOON J. McGrath;ASPRAY, William. Ed. Women and Information Technology: Research onUnder-Representation. Masachussets. MIT

DONESTECH. Estudio sobre el acceso y sos de las tecnologas por parte de las mujeres en elEstado Espaol. 2008. Available at:http://www.donestech.net/ca/estudio_cualitativo_codigolela_donestech

Press. 2006.

FAULKNER, Wendy; LIE, Merete. Gender in the Information Society: Strategies of Inclusion.Gender Technology and Development 11 (2), 2007, 157-177.

FLANAGAN, Mary; BOOTH, Austin. Reload. Rethinking women + cyberulture.

Massachussetts, MIT, 2002.HARAWAY, Donna. Simians, Cyborgs and Women. Nova York. Routledge. 1991

HAWTHORNE, Susan; KLEIN, Renate. Cyberfeminism: Connectivity, Critique + Creativity.Australia, Spinifex, 1999.

LAGESEN, Vivian. The Strength of Numbers: Strategies to Include Women into ComputerScience. Social Studies of Science 2007; 37; 67.

LAGESEN, Vivian. A Cyberfeminist Utopia? Perceptions of Gender and Computer Scienceamong Malysian Women Computer Science Students and Faculty. Science, Technology &Human Values, 33 (1), 2008, 5-27.


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LANDSTRM, Catharina.Queering feminist technology studies. Feminist Theory. 8 (7), 2007,7-26.

LERMAN, Nina E; OLDENZIEL, Ruth; MOHUN, Arwen P. Introduction: Interrogating Boundaries.In LERMAN et al. Gender and Technology. A reader. The Johns Hopkins University Press. 2003.

MARGOLIS, Jane; FISHER, Allan. Unlocking the clubhouse. Women in Computing. The MITPress. London. 2001.

NUEZ, Sonia; GARCIA, Antonio. New technologies and new spaces for Relation. SpanishFeminist Praxis Online. European Journal of Womens Studies. 2009, 16; 249

PLANT, Sady. Zeros + Ones. Digital women + the new technoculture. New Cork. Doubleday.1997.

SORENSEN, Knut.H. Love, Duty and the S-curve: An Overview of Some Current Literature onGender and ICT. Sigis. Deliverable Number: D02_Part 1. 2002. 1-36.

SVENINGSON, Malin; SUNDEN, Jenny. Cyberfeminism in Northern Lights: DigitalMedia and Gender in a Nordic Context . Cambridge, Cambridge Scholars Publishing,2007.

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http://x0y1.net/proyectos/?page_id=238http://x0y1.net/proyectos/?page_id=238


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Anitza Geneve

Queensland University of Technology

Theme: Internet and an equal and balanced society

Quantity and Quality: Patterns of Female Engagement with ICTs: Five Acts of

Agency

Abstract

Research concerned with womens engagement with ICT has commonly focused on studyingthe barriers women face accessing and using technology. Recent research identifies thegrowing parity of technology use between the genders. 1 There is however, little research thatconsiders why there are fewer women, than men, creating the digital content that suchtechnology facilitates access to. This paper discusses findings from a case study which soughtto understand the participation of female Interactive Content Creators in the Australian DigitalContent Industry (DCI).2

Introduction

The paper is divided into three parts. The first part briefly introducesthe case study. The second part reflects on the research approach, which consists of thecritical realist philosophical underpinnings and the lens of agency as a theoretical scaffold. Thethird provides an insight into the type of findings this research approach offers. This isexemplified by the proposed five Acts of Agency which synthesise the empirical, philosophicaland theoretical insights.

This paper emerges from a case study focusing on the experiences of female InteractiveContent Creators employed within the Australian Digital Content Industry (DCI). The DCI ischaracterised by two aspects, firstly, in its adoption of technology to create digital content. 3

The case study data, collected between 2007-2009, included interviews with women employedin multimedia or games production organisations. Secondary sources of data includestakeholder interviews and documents such as industry blogs. The findings suggest that thereare a diverse range of influences on participation. These manifest across different levels;environment, individual and the mediating relationships between. Previous research in the ICTcontext identifies the need to focus on the relationships between the complex mixture offactors (von Hellens and Nielsen, 2001, p. 52). Ahuja (2002) noting it is not sufficient toexamine these factors in isolation from one another, as the IS literature on gender has done sofar (p. 22). These relationships potentially hold the key to addressing the declining interest

Secondly, like in the ICT context, women are under-represented in certain occupational roles.Male workers almost completely dominate the core content creation roles (such as design,programming and visual arts) (Deuze et al, 2007, p. 346). Hence, the case study aims tounderstand the influences on womens participation.

1 See for example Women on the Web:How Women are Shaping the Internet (2010) and Brand (2007)2 As defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics Australian Culture and Leisure Classification occupation ofInteractive Content Creator class (267).3 Digital content includes; websites, mobile phone applications and computer/console based game products


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in IT educational and vocational paths (von Hellens et al, 2007, p.3). Hence, the interactionbetween the person and their environment forms a key analytical focus of the study.

Research Approach

In the early stages of the study the researcher looked to the related ICT domain as there were

few empirical or conceptual studies in the DCI context, and fewer that focused on womensexperiences. Notable exceptions include Gill (2002) and Perrons (2003) in the United Kingdomand Europe and Roan and Whitehouse (2007) in Australia. Beyond sensitising the researcher topossible influences that women may experience, these studies raised theoretical andontological considerations. First, there is a need to understand the phenomenon of womensparticipation from a theoretical perspective (Trauth et al, 2005; Trauth et al, 2004). Yet, few ofthe studies in the ICT domain use theory to explain findings (Adam et al, 2004). Hence, there isscope to draw on existing theory to foster an explanation of the phenomenon. Secondly, thereis a need to unify what Quesenberry (2006) describes as the fragmented insights fromprevious research. Such fragmentation may arise from studies that focus on one level or sliceof data. Hence, there is a need for a multi level relational analysis. This fragmentation may alsoarise by only seeing the data from one perspective, for example, objective or subjective.Different paradigmatic approaches, such as critical and constructivist, can bring differentinsights to the same phenomenon (Howcroft and Trauth, 2008).

Accordingly, the research approach adopted two lenses with which to further conceptualisethe interaction between the environment and the individual. The first was theoretical and thesecond stemmed from the critical realist philosophy or paradigmatic stance underpinning thestudy. The theoretical lens drew on agency theories such as Giddens Structuration Theory(1984). Agency theories offer several strengths such as a sensitivity to gender and a focus onrecognising both constraining and enabling influences. Due to the limitations of space, thetheoretical lens is not directly explored further in this paper. The following reflection istowards the strengths of the critical realist philosophy underpinning the study.

The phenomenon of womens participation or under representation is complex (Coohon andAspray, 2006). Adding to this complexity is that female researchers face difficult decisionsregarding their choice of research approach. Key paradigmatic approaches such as positivistare critiqued for being essentialist and determinist (Trauth et al, 2008) and constructivist forleaving little room for individual differences (Trauth et a l, 2004) between women. Althougha critical approach may sensitise a researcher to axiological considerations, a focus on a

narrow set of ideological concerns such as power may limit explanatory potential. 4

Yet, in recent times there has been a quiet methodological revolution leading to a blurringand shifting in paradigmatic positions (Denzin and Lincoln, 2008, p. 264). Critical Realism (fromherein CR) provides an approach that bridges paradigmatic stances (Olsen, 2008). Although CRis described as a philosophy in search of a method (Yeung, 1997), this leaves a certainopenness to the choice of method (Mingers, 2002). Hence, there is a shift away from primarilyepistemological to ontological concerns. A CR approach involves understanding the

Suchlimitations may leave a researcher feeling that the research approach itself forms a barrier inunderstanding womens participation.

4 Critical here refers to critical theory often associated with feminist research. This is to be distinguished from theCritical Realist approach.


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that design digital technology (Jenkins and Cassell, 2008, p1). Although having access toresources there are other related influences.

previously females didnt use computers as much. I remember I was the only girlout of all who used computers when we were growing up. No one else used it. Well,

now everyone uses it. Everyone has their MySpace or their Facebook so they haveconfidence in using computers, interacting with computers and so possibly that couldtranslate at the end of the day that they could see a degree and [being] exposed to somany games and so many things, they might think oh Id really like to be able to dothat(M7).

2. Connected - The Acts of Agency also emphasises that participation is more than access totechnology and other resources. The mechanism of connecting involved the women in thestudy either visualising their participation or developing confidence in their capability. Yet,many women do not connect to a DCI career path due to the lack of role models.Furthermore, the negative stereotypes which surround womens capacity towards technologycan lead to their lower self-efficacy. Gaining mastery skills fostered a sense of connecting.

3. Collaborative - Participation involves more than just the ability to do the job. A key agentdriven Act of Agency is to be collaborative, which leads to a sense of fitting in, belonging andsharing. Yet, due to the male majority in the DCI, which leads to a masculine culture, to fit inmeans being one of the boys(G2, G7).

4. Creative - Creativity (which involves problem-solving and transformational capacity) as anunderlying mechanism manifested in a number of ways for the women in the DCI context. Amajority of women described how being creative was important for them as individuals. I feltlike I was expressing a lot of creativity in this work. (G8). Women had left previous careersdue to limited opportunities for creativity. The things that I didnt enjoy about it was that itsnot a creative industry (G7). 9

5. Human - Human Acts of Agency involve the underpinning mechanisms of emotion. Passionwas identified by several participants as a key driver of their participation. I think the onlyreason you would enter games because you've got a passion for games (G1). I love gamesand creating games and I don't see any barriers because I am a girl. I think if you are passionatesomething, then you go after it(G6).The emotion of passion is also identifed in one of thefew other studies of women in the Australian DCI (see Roan and Whitehouse, 2007). However,emotions are not often considered by researchers, being seen as dirty work and usuallyassociated with the private sphere (Lewis and Simpson, 2007, p. 184). Yet, emotions exist inthe public sphere, including workplaces. A specific emotion, such as trust, can lead to womenengaging more readily with certain resources.

Creativity may also underpin participation in onlineenvironments. For example one of the key reasons for maintaining a blog is given as creativeexpression (Lenhart & Fox, 2006).

And I just think if someones got their blog up you can often sort of tell by the fact thattheyve had a blog for a long time, people have been engaging with it for a long time[] this makes me trust this person more, yeah. (M8)

Conclusion

9 G7 indicates that this is a case study participant who works in a games organisation.


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This paper has provided insights into the types of findings a CR approach may foster. That is,fostering cross paradigmatic insights of a stratified reality. It has also proposed that agencytheory provides a suitable theoretical approach as it recognises not only the constraints butalso enablers an individual faces. The paper reports on a research approach that aims for anunderstanding of the underlying mechanisms that foster an individuals agency and ultimatelytheir participation. It presents an approach that may unify a wide range of theoreticalapproaches and paradigmatic stances which, present challenges to researchers who aim for aunified and holistic understanding of the phenomenon.

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agenda. European Journal of Information Systems . 11, 2034.

Bhaskar, R. (1978) The Realist Theory of Science , 2nd edition, Brighton: The Harvester Press.Blodgett, B. M. (2009) And the ringleaders were banned: an examination of protest in virtual worlds. In Proceedings

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27, 2009. ACM: New York, NY, 135-144.

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1, Network Society), Oxford: Blackwell.

Cohoon, J. M., & Aspray, W. Ed.(2006) Women and Information Technology: Research on Under-Representation.

Massachusetts. MIT

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Deuze, M., Martin, C., & Allen, C. (2007) The professional identity of gameworkers. Convergence , 13 (4), 335353.

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Gill, R. (2002) Cool, Creative and Egalitarian? Exploring Gender in Project-Based New Media Work in Europe.

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Systems Journal , 18 , 185202.

Jenkins, H & Cassell, J (2008) From Quake Grrls to Desperate Housewives: A Decade of Gender and Computer

Games. Y. Kafai, C. Heeter, J. Denner, & J. Sun (eds.) Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on

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New Media, Gender, Work & Organization . 10(1), 6593.

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Gender in European Technopolitical Activism: An ExploratoryStudy

Panel presentation Quanti ty and Quality: Patterns of FemaleEngagement with ICTs

IR.11.0 Gothenburg, Sweden

Author: Yana Breindl - Universit Libre de Bruxelles - ([email protected])

Despite general increases in women's representation and participation in most areas of thepolitical process, significant gender gaps remain in important fields. This is the case of techno-political activism whose members stem from a predominantly male-dominated hacker culture.Technology has been masculinized and controlled by an elite for thousands of years. Whilewomen movements claimed equal rights for men and women, the development of computersand their growing interconnection that led to the internet became a male prerogative. Thispresentation proposes to explore the presence of (or lack of) women in techno-politicalmovements whose aim is to influence current debates on intellectual property rights, internetregulation and civil rights in digital environments. On the basis of in-depth interviews with

activists from various digital rights movements currently active at the European level, weexplore what appear to be gender-based work divisions, the roles occupied by women active inthese movements and, how they are perceived by their male counterparts. We start with abrief overview of gender in computer science, and more particularly the free and open sourcesoftware movement (FLOSS), from which much technopolitical activism stems.

1 Gender gap in computer science

Since the 1980s, more and more men took up computer science while at the same time, thepart of women is rapidly decreasing. Isabelle Collet (2006) investigated this phenomena andargues that the representation, women and men have of the profession of a computerscientist is differentiated. She tried to understand the imaginary of passionate computerprogrammers generally referred to as hackers to understand why the computer is conceived ofas a window to a virtual universe of rules where programmers play to be God. When studyingthe discourses of female scientists, Collet found out that the representation of computerscientists is incarnated in these hackers. This representation weights mainly on women whofind it difficult to find their place in those communities.


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Examining gender rates in computer science courses in France from 1971 to 2001, Colletconcludes that the real question to ask is not why are there less and less women in computerscience courses (as their number is stable) but why are there more and more boys? (2006: 49,bold in original). Indeed, all statistics indicate that the part of women in computer sciencecurses remained stable from 1971 to 2001 while the part of men vertiginously increased fromthe early 1980s. In some schools, women even outnumbered men, as was the case at the INSAof Rennes (France) in 1979 (55% of women) and 1980 (50% of women). However, around theyear 2000, women only represented 15% of the graduates in computer science courses. Thissituation is also characteristic of other european countries, especially Germany and the UK. Inthe United States, the part of women decreased by 10% from 1980 to 2000, totaling 28% in2001. All statistics available attest of a sudden and massive increase in male interest incomputer science in the 1980s while female interest seemed to remain stable or decreased(Collet, 2006; Cohoon & Aspray, 2006).

Collet argues that computer science has been perceived as a largely administrative work in the1970s, yet this has changed in the 1980s with the introduction of micro-computers thatchanged the representation of the profession. Nowadays, computer science can be dividedinto a noblesse d'pe (nobles of the sword) and a noblesse de robe (nobles of the gown).Most developers are involved in managing information systems. For Collet, you can find there'reasonable' developers who consider computer science like any other job (2006: 39). The'noblesse d'pe' is constituted by scientific or industrial computer scientists: visualrepresentation, computer visualiation, medical computer science, computer science applied tomathematics or physics or computer security and parts of computer networks. This is whereone can find passionate programmers usually called hackers (Collet, 2006).

2 The hacker imaginary

When thinking about hackers, the media clich of a computer criminal often comes to mind.However, true hackers are computer aficionados who share a common ethic. This ethic hasbeen summarised by Levy as promoting open access to computers, informational freedom, themistrust of authority, decentralisation judgements based upon hacking skills alone, the

possibility to create art and beauty on computers, and the belief that computers can changelife for the better (1984: 27-33). It is a culture of technological creativity based on freedom,cooperation, reciprocity, and informality, argues Castells (2001: 50). The free/libre and opensource software (FLOSS) movement finds its roots in this hacker culture (Thomas, 2002), andis arguably one of its most politically oriented extensions.

For Collet, this visible minority of passionate computer programmers whose ambiguousimage attracts, fascinates or repels became the reference of practices and discourses (206:283). Her study of discourses of female computer scientists shows that the representation ofcomputer scientists has incarnated itself in the hacker, echoing research by Turkle (1988) and

Hapnes and Rasmussen (1991).


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In the FLOSS community, the hacker imaginary is particularly vivid while few women areinvolved in it. In 2004, there were 28% of women involvement in proprietary softwaredevelopment. At the same time, less than 2% of FLOSS developers were women (FLOSSPOLS,2006).

Drawing upon this first FLOSSPOLS study, Hanna Wallach (2010) argues that there is an activebut unconscious exclusion of women in FLOSS communities. Many things are considered asoff-putting for women but are not perceived as such by men: jokes about women, identifyingwomen as examples of nontechnical users, assuming that women are simply not interested insoftware development, the perception that coding is superior to any other skills while womenactive in software development are often involved in other activities (e.g. bug fixing,documentation, organising events, social tasks etc.) considered as inferior, not realprogramming. This is accentuated in the FLOSS world, while in the proprietary software world,social tasksare much more valued and necessary to create an end product. In the FLOSSworld, the general leitmotiv is to just make it work(Wallach, 2010).

Furthermore, women tend to get involved in computing at a later stage, their skills are notrecognised as much as their gender (they are also often perceived as potential romantictargets), are more likely to be put off by flamewars and have generally less time for FLOSSdevelopment (as they spend more time on domestic tasks). In general, women get moreinvolved in projects they get paid for (Wallach, 2010).

Initiatives to involve more women are multiplying in FLOSS communities (e.g. the DebianWomen Project, Gnome Women's summer outreach program) and increasingly successful. Yetimportant mismatches remain between the representation or image of technology related

work and the actual practice of technology in terms of gender (Collet, 2006; Faulkner, 2009).For Faulkner (2009), this is partially due to highly gendered dichotomies operating: men areperceived to be more machine or technology focused while women are considered to be morepeople focused, in other words the binary division between feminine expressiveness andmasculine instrumentalism; the distinction between hard technology and soft technologydiscussed previously and the ways of thoughts considered to be more abstract for men andmore concret and relational for women.

3 Technopolitics

At present, FLOSS and hacker imaginaries have spread from programmers to non-programmers who sympathize with their core ethics (Rasmussen, 2007). Various activistmovements found inspiration in values of sharing and openness and applied these to otherpolitical domains such as human rights, environmentalism and social justice. Lessig's CreativeCommons licenses or Wikipedia's GNU Free Documentation License are extensions of thealternative distributive copyright rules developed for free software with Stallmans GeneralPublic License (Jordan, 2008) or the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) license. A muchbroader digital rights movement is taking shape across the globe. It draws and extends upon


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the original hacker ethic as laid out by Levy (1984), merges with other civil society movements(e.g. human rights) and proposes an original mix of open source, enlightenment and libertarianframes.

Digital rights activism finds its origin in IT and, FLOSS communities in particular. Few women

are active within activists groups as has shown our analysis of two digital rights campaigns atthe European level, researched in previous studies (Breindl, 2009; Breindl & Briatte, 2009).Although we do not claim an exhaustive representation of gender issues within these groups,44 in-depth interviews were carried out with activists and political representatives involved inboth campaigns. 12 interviews discussed gender issues in technopolitical activist groups inmore detail and the following, exploratory analysis is based on the perceptions of 12 activistsfrom 6 different countries and 7 different associations or political groups. Three of them arewomen. The following is a first exploratory analysis of how activists perceive and representgender within technopolitical activist groups.

All interviewees agree that women constitute the exception in technopolitical activist groups.Yet, many pointed out that it was not just a question of gender but of general diversity, mostactivists being young males, aged 25-35, living in urban areas, from caucasian origin and,holding a university degree. Frequently, they had previous experience with computer science,many having studied it and are active, users or supporters, of free and open source software.

The first explanation to the lack of women put forward was that digital rights activism dealtwith technical issues. One 49 year-old activist argued:

It's natural I mean technological subjects don't really interest women in the same way. I mean

some women like it but it's less, it's less a women thing. Without being sexist, women haveother, usually have other interests I think. (Interview 6, Brussels, December 18, 2008).

Others argue for differences of involvement in leisure activities due to the fact that women arestill more occupied with household tasks compared to men. Discriminations in education arealso pointed out and the most straightforward perception is that it is a societal issue, morethan a characteristic of technopolitical activism. Some activists are however old enough toremember that in the 1960s, many programmers were women:

But you see remember back then it was something that people did as a job choice and that'sall. Whereas what happened after that is that a lot of men who liked tinkering with somethinggot into computers and that's something men do a lot more than women. Before thathappened, I think it was more common for women do get into programming. (Interview 15,per phone, September 15, 2009).

Yet, having so few women is not an issue as the movement needs to gather support,regardless of the gender they turn out to be. (Ibid.). Most male activists state that they arerather open towards feminism and welcome more women to join the fight. Most supporters oftechnopolitical movements are recruited among programmers and technophiles, many ofwhom consider themselves as geeks.


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The three women we encountered, because we asked to meet women, all occupied keypositions within the movement, one as an reliable ally inside an important political institution,the two others acting as spokespersons and central campaigners for a French and a Spanishgroup. None of them came from an engineering background. Asked about their position as awomen in a men's world, one of them considered:

It never disturbed me. In politics, it's a men's world, which is still more ferocious than theFLOSS milieu. (...) When you look at political activists, well there are lots of women (...) theyget less chances. Already they don't necessarily want to get involved but when they want toget involved, they get less chances to do so, in a successful manner, with the aim of a success,an election... (...). In Free Software, it's not the same problematic, in the sense that it's ameritocratie and in the communities I know, there is no discrimination against women. Simplywomen who have some responsibilities, who hold key responsibilities in free softwareprojects, they don't like to show themselves. Because they are geeks. And a geek doesn't liketo show himself. (Interview 27, Paris 11, 2009).

The geek mentality is indeed rather common among technopolitical activist groups, manifestin the way they talk, dress and carry a laptop around wherever they go. They recognize otherswho behave in similar ways and speak a similar language as equals. Some groups werecharacterised by a particular vocabulary, often using programming language to make sense ofcomplex political processes. Participation in such groups is said to be open, anybody can join.It's a meritocratie, a person being judged upon his input and expertise.

In Sweden, more women were present in the activist groups we met. In Scandinaviancountries, and particularly in Sweden, Internet politics issues have gained widespread visibility

and have become a societal issue of importance. As a result, the technical connotation of suchtopics has lost its salience and supporters have moved away from IT communities and englobea larger membership of journalists, experts, concerned citizens not necessarily holding anyprevious IT knowledge. Within technopolical activism, it often depends on the issues at stakeas well, with the tendency that technical issues are largely male dominated.

Most interviewees recognise differences of behaviour between men and women, men beingmore clumsy and really incompetent when it comes to understanding, you know whypeople have difficulties for example. So any kind of empathy for the other person. argues oneactivist (Interview 6, Brussels, December 18, 2008). Women thus frequently act as mediators,

negotiators, helping out to manage communities. Some also consider it as surprising that thereare so few women, yet believe that men and women should be complementing each other:

So that's kind of, you would expect in a large digital society, that you had a good symbiosisbetween people doing different kinds of work and different kind of roles and also male andfemale, I'm now using codes because male and female is very much a mental thing, but waysof communicating, ways of organizing should work together very well. You don't see that a lotbut I expect to see it more over time. It doesn't make sense that all the girls go and chat onFacebook and all the guys go on, you know, argue on IRC, it doesn't really make sense.(Interview 6, Brussels, December 18, 2008)


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The case of France shows that women involved in technopolitical activism tend to occupyshadow positions or be involved in public relations, as spokespersons for example, notnecessarily holding technical expertise but good knowledge of the political field, a preciousasset for the rest of the network. Furthermore, internet-based activism allows for a large partof anonymity, depending on the groups. In Sweden, many activists only know each other bynicknames and activism appears more diverse in general.

One spanish activist we interviewed talked in length about her positions within one male-dominated, machist, activist group whereas a digital rights group she founded is mainlycomposed of women. She argues that: there are no women because they don't deserve to bethere. Because, I want to say that it's a struggle and guys, they also have lots of problems(Interview 34, Brussels February 3, 2009). She also recognises that there is a general lack ofrecognising female achievement but that many women are voluntarily remaining in retreat,not stepping forward for what they achieved and often not finishing off what they started.There are certainly contextual differences between countries like Sweden in which genderissues are differently perceived than in Spain or Italy.

Conclusion

Collet observes that female computer scientists hold a median position between masculineand feminine (2006: 278). Women who make it are often described as exceptional, in thesense that they are women who can do more than other women. Yet, to be an exceptionalgirl, you need to be a girl AND not behave like a girl (2006: 279). In IT sectors, women seem to

distance themselves from other/normal women, who are discriminated by their malecounterparts, in order to make sure to get accepted within the group. Exceptional womenbuild themselves against the feminine, without adopting the masculine (ibid.).

Within technopolitical activism, the few women involved rarely come from a technologicalbackground. They are exceptional womenin the sense that they feel at ease within adominantly male community and hold the political expertise to significantly contribute to it. Allof the women encountered are very conscious of their particular situation and actively tryingto involve more women in the groups.

Despite technopolitical activists' egalitarian philosophy, gender is an issue for thesecommunities. However, further research should question the binary presentation of gender. Itmight lead to further insights to consider the perception of masculinity by technopoliticalactivists. In which way do male computer programmers or technopolitical activists deal withrepresentations of masculinity and feminity, and can these be placed on a dichotomy or arethere more nuances to be explored?

In the end, technopolitical activism is distinctive in its relation to power. Technologiesgenerally extend one's limited sense of strength or potency. Carrying out technology-aidedactivism aims at influencing the power shaping of future societies, in the sense that regulationsare setting the structural changes for the future. For such activism, it is necessary to convincemen and women alike of the well-foundation of their actions, which means that in the long


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term, we predict a growing participation of women, which may have positive side-consequences on the perception of technology by society, with regards to gender.

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