Gender Perception toward Computing: Cross Culture Comparison - the US, China, and India

摘要

Computing has been long considered a male domain in the US. With this perception, females may experience negative outcomes in the occupation or activities. Does this perception exist in other countries? This paper reports a study that investigated the gender perception of computing in three different countries: US, China, and India. The study involved 638 undergrad students. The study compared gender perception of computing between males and females within each country and between countries. It is found that American respondents perceived technical and managerial aspects of computing as neither a male nor a female domain, while American female respondents perceived clerical and office uses of computing as a female domain. Chinese males perceived technical and managerial aspects of computing as a male domain. Indian respondents perceived no gender perception toward computing.