Gender and technology

New alliances to promote social inclusion

Abstract

New alliances between gender, technology and adult education studies could help in reducing risks of sexism and ageism. This review begins by outlining Gender and Technology studies, their concepts and evolution. Four main phases are shortly described: the study of women in technology, that of gender and technology, the understanding of a reciprocal shaping between gender and technology, and finally the postmodern perspective that adds to the field other dimensions, such as identity and age. The paper proceeds to describe the transformation of the activity of programming, originally performed mainly by women, into a prevalent masculine profession, and discusses what influence this process may have had on non-professional IT users. Finally, the paper mentions the importance of combining the fields of Gender and Technology and Adult Education, to limit the risks of social exclusion of groups less confident with technology, due to their sex and/or age.