The fields of Information technology (IT) and Computer Science (SC) used to be ... in a study on girls and technology careers, where participants were asked to ...
GENDERED DIGITAL LITERACY DIVIDE: A PERSPECTIVE ON THE LACK OF FEMALES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND COMPUTER SCIENCE FIELDS WITHIN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Abdullah Altuwaijri, Phd INTRODUCTION The fields of Information technology (IT) and Computer Science (SC) used to be up and coming areas for the current century, where many of the future jobs will be established. This is a fact now and we can see the level of involvement that the technology is playing almost in every aspect of our life. However, and according to Sanders (2005) there is a lack of the female element in many educational and professional fields where technology in all its different uses is considered the major aspect. She described the fields of information technology (IT) and computer sciences (SC) as promising areas for women to thrive in, taken into consideration the types of good paying jobs and their flexibility nature. Also since the long tradition of men-only has not been completely implemented in these relatively new areas, women full integration in such job markets should be achievable. Sanders (2005) continued to explain that regardless of the opportunities for a successful female presence in such fields, the gendered digital divide became an aspect of the fields IT and SC. In explaining this issue, Chen in the mid eighties identified that gender divide in technology referred to the concept that males and females are demonstrating differing technology-related attitudes, behaviors, and skills (Chen, 1985). An example of such attitudes and behaviors can be illustrated in a quote from participants in a study on girls and technology careers, where participants were asked to describe an image for someone working in a technology related career. Their overall description was “they look hecka smart because they are wearing those little glasses… and lab coats…. probably geeky and use vocabulary that you wouldn’t understand or keep up with” (Kekelis, Ancheta, & Heber, 2005, p.101). This issue paper will look into the gender-based divide in technology literacy that is related the fields of IT and CS focusing on women in Saudi Arabia. However, due to lack of information on the specific case of Saudi women, I will try to explore and understand the issue from a broader perspective that looks into the role of gender in general in
creating the digital divide that we see today almost in all countries, and specifically in the US and Saudi Arabia. In another words, the question this issue paper is trying to answer is what is the current status of digital literacy and what roles can developments in instructional technologies and tools play in bridging the gender-based gap in digital literacy within Saudi Arabia higher education system. Roles will be operationalized, for purposes of this paper, as the administrative, pedagogical and instructional practices that can be carried out by a Saudi Arabian higher education institution by means of technology. Gender-based gap in literacy takes on a unique meaning in this paper that carries the lack of Saudi female professionals in the fields of IT and CS. However, in order to be able to explore the issue at hand we must define what is meant by digital literacy and it is viewed in this paper. The National Council of Teachers of English brings a broader perspective on what they call 21st century literacies. According to council website, 21st century literacies “demand that a literate person possess a wide range of abilities and competencies, many literacies.” The council identifies a set of skills and abilities that should be achievable by literate people in the 21st century, including: • • • • • •
Using the tools of technology to develop literacy. Pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally through building relationships with others. Serving a variety of goals through designing and sharing information for global communities. Manage, analyze, and synthesize an abundance of sources of information. The ability to create, analyze, critique and evaluate multi-media texts. Attending to ethical responsibilities demanded by these complex environments. (NCTE, 2008).
On the other hand, a recent area of literacy research is new literacies (Buckingham, 1993). The definition of new literacies is still not firmly established, as different groups of literacy researchers tend to approach the issue from different points of view. One group views it as continuously changing and reforming as new technologies and social practices of literacy emerge. This group sees a greater guiding role for technology on the development of literacy. Another group takes on a different approach following a sociocultural view that focuses on literacy as a social act with technology functioning as a normal force within other forces and tools that is utilized by the social practice of literacy (Coiro & Dobler, 2007).
Taking this background into consideration and the fact that there is no one single definition of digital literacy as it is also called many names including 21st century literacy, internet literacy, and new media literacy, and ICT literacy (Leu, 2008), digital literacy in this paper is narrowed to the fields of IT and CS and is defined as encompassing the skills and abilities to carry out routine and professional tasks within the areas of IT and CS job markets. Within this definition, digital literacy in IT and CS includes a set of skills that is identified by two major related organizations: National Forum on Information Literacy (NFIL) and The Digital Inclusion Forum (DIF). Digital literacy in IT constitutes the ability to “know when there is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information for the issue or problem at hand” (NFIL, 2012). For CS, the DIF (2012) highlights the following skills as core skills to computer literacy: • • •
Knowledge and ability to effectively operate computers and related technology. Mastering a range of skills ranging from novice use to advance problem solving and programing. Proper knowledge on how computers work.
The argument here is not that Saudi females are performing badly in these two fields, but rather the lack of opportunities for exposure to digital literacy throughout female education, whether intended or unintended, is resulting in the evident extremely low rates of females in these two highly important fields. Moreover, it is necessary to understand that this phenomenon of technological gender divide is not confined within a certain country, cultural, or race. A data analysis of 21 countries, where data was available, demonstrated that there is a multi-national agreement in categorizing computer science programs and information technology as male dominant (Sanders, 2005). My personal view is that the nature of technology literacy related opportunities in Saudi girls’ education and academic profession are significantly contributing to the issue at hand. I will start by exploring the current situation trying to understand its importance while providing, when needed, my personal culturally informed input on the Saudi females aspects. Then I will look into the causes of the issue from the established literature and others prior efforts. I will conclude this paper with a general broad
overview of what can be done to alleviate the issue and work toward more equality in the areas of IT and CS.
IMPORTANCE OF THE ISSUE The population of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is considered 86.6% literate, where literacy rate among males is at 90.4% and among females is at 81.3%. These numbers are for the ages between 15 and 64 (Central Intelligence Agency factbook, 2011). Saudi Arabia has gone a long way in improving its population literacy and overall educational status. It is worth mentioning that the government is spending 5.6% of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) on education and its related services. Given that Saudi Arabia GDP in the same year that this percentage was calculated, which is 2011, was US $651.652 billion we can see the level of investment that the government is committing its self to when it comes to education. However, regardless of the narrow gap in literacy levels between the two genders, another large gap is reflected on the overall quality of life and careers options within both genders in Saudi youth (15-25 years). To understand the bigger picture, we must consider that unemployment rate is at 45.8% in females who represent 44.7% of the total population; this is almost half of the female Saudi population. Additionally, only 17% of the female population is active labor in the country. Of these, only 2% are working in services industries including IT and CS (CIA factbook, 2011). When we look at the female population in the US for example we find that 51% of the population and 47% of the work force are made up of women, yet women represent only 27% of the scientific community specializing in mathematics and computer sciences (Varma, 2009). We can see that the trend is repeated, even though at different rates. In general, Saudi young women are at a disadvantage when it comes to landing wellpaying jobs in the two areas of IT and SC due to lack of professional and academic opportunities stemming from the lack of digital literacy in their education. The higher education system in Saudi Arabia tends to mainstream its female students toward jobs that are preapproved by the popular culture and the country specific interpretation and understanding of Islam, in which they are mainly majoring in art and humanities while
limiting or denying them access to academic degrees in natural science, engineering, and other male dominated fields. This denial is not necessary in forms of rejecting applications to enroll in such degree, but rather in not providing learning environments that meets the students’ cultural and religious needs. The ripple effect of such practices combined with the traditional view of the role for females in the society is placing the whole country at risk via restricting half of its population from achieving their full potential. Saudi girls have proven themselves capable of competing and surpassing others in many international cases when proper opportunities are provided. Considering the fact that 44.78% of the Saudi population is females (World Bank Report, 2011), this issue is of great importance and present a significant challenge for higher education officials and stakeholders. The following chart provides a general overview of the issue within the context of Saudi Arabia.
Adapted from: Almunajjed (2010).
Tackling educational issues usually brings into the situation a variety of cultural and socioeconomic factors that needs to be considered in any future endeavor. In the case of Saudi Arabia, this is extremely true and even more complicated (Almunajjid, 2010). Educational issues in the country are usually viewed through multiple lenses on a sequential rather than an integrative approach. The role of Islamic teachings is prevalent
in all aspects of life and education is not an exception. However, the fact that the issue is related to female students and the gender gap with regard to literacy, and education in general as a byproduct of this gap, creates almost like a taboo topic that everyone is afraid to address or hesitant to talk about. From a broader perspective, Wasburn and Miller (2004) gave an example for demonstrating the lack of women in IT and CS areas by examining the rate change in female faculty and study at Purdue University-West Lafayette, School of Technology. In their argument they discussed that, while the School of Technology consisted of eight departments all within the technology field, during a five years period the ratio of female faculty in the school did not change significantly staying at low levels of 12.2% of the total faculty. This analysis was also true for the number of female students attending different programs within the School of Technology with females being 15.2% of the total number of students (Wasburn & Miller, 2004). To examine the importance of the issue of gender divide in technology, American Association of University Women (AAUW) found in their report that girls has demonstrated reservations about the computer culture, took fewer computing courses and were underrepresented in computer clubs and laboratories, and in instances when they decided to engage with technology they mainly focused on it as an end-user rather than a developer or programmer (AAUW, 2000). To better understand why there should be a focus on the gender gap in technology related majors, Barker and Aspray (2006) provided four reasons that are specific to the US. First, the authors discussed that the rise of number of females in IT and CS will increase the number of qualified people to work in innovative and technology related jobs that are very crucial to any economy. Second, jobs in IT and CS that usually come with better pay are given to college graduate form the respective fields. Opening this job market to women would elevate a majority of the population living standard when we take into consideration that females represent 50% of college graduate yet they fill only one third of these jobs. Third, having a diverse workforce is remarked as a valuable asset and a quality improving factors to any economy. Lastly and as stated by the authors, “applying computing as a tool for solving big problems is considered crucial to the US future and economy” (Barker and Aspray, 2006, p. 14). Considering the important role the technology assumes, not only in the US
but also in Saudi Arabia, in the 21st century education, communication, job market, and entertainment industry; women’s’ low and decreasing involvement in the IT and CS enterprises is a worrying issue (Sanders, 2005). Additionally, Wong and Hanafi (2007) indicated that todays’ students are expected to perform and be able to carry their tasks and homework using technology as it becomes more ubiquitous. In this regard, they listed and analyzed a number of studies that have been carried out regarding technology integration and its use in k-12 settings. Their analysis reflected significant male-advancing gender differences in two areas: attitudes and self-perceiving image in relation to computer experience (Wong & Hanafi, 2007). The lack of such skills and literacy in girls education and professional preparation and development would limit their chances to reach their full potential as individuals and community members. [Place mark]
