GENDER STEREOTYPING OF COMPUTING: HAS INCREASED EXPOSURE TO COMPUTING AND THE INTERNET CAUSED PERCEPTIONS TO CHANGE?

摘要

This paper reports on a study designed to examine perceptions of typical university students regarding gender stereotyping of computing across time. A replication study was utilized so that a previous baseline would be available for determining if perceptions had changed over the last five years. Specific factors that might drive the gender stereotyping of computing perceptions were investigated. Thesefactors were gender, age, computer anxiety, computer self-efficacy, and computer and Internet-related computing experience. Data were collected from 272 undergraduate students. This studied identified that gender stereotyping of computing still exists. Despite the drastic increase in computing and Internet experience for both men and women over the last five years, an accompanying shift to a gender-neutral view of computing has not fully materialized. In fact, the overall perception was that computing is now perceived to be "more masculine " than in a 1995 study. Overall, the results of this study provided an useful snapshot of various gender stereotyping issues and should be useful in further studies that address the computer gender gap, participation and success of women in computing-related degrees and training, and high-tech workforce issues to name a few.