Invisible Women in IT: Examining Gender Representation in K-12 ICT Teaching Materials
The underrepresentation of women in IT has been a long-standing issue. Research has shown that women’s first experience with computing education is vital in shaping their perception of the field and who “belongs” to it. In this Danish case study, we examine gender representation in the subject \textit{Informatics}, which is the first mandatory, formal introduction to computing education for many students in Denmark. Across 25% of all Danish HHX high schools, we assess the teaching materials on parameters of gender representation in \textit{pronouns}, \textit{names}, \textit{images}, \textit{audio/video material}, and \textit{potential role models}. Our results suggest an overall underrepresentation of women in textual and audio/video material, but not in images. We also find an overall absence of female role models, and a tendency for the materials to feature \textit{younger} female role models than their male counterparts. We conclude with concrete recommendations for authors and publishers of teaching materials for ICT on the high school level.
Wed 14 AugDisplayed time zone: Brisbane change
11:00 - 11:40 | |||
11:00 20mTalk | Exploring the Impact of Assessment Policies on Marginalized Students' Experiences in Post-Secondary Programming Courses Research Papers Eman Sherif University of Washington, Jayne Everson University of Washington, Megumi Kivuva University of Washington, Seattle, Mara Kirdani-Ryan University of Washington, Amy Ko University of Washington | ||
11:20 20mTalk | Invisible Women in IT: Examining Gender Representation in K-12 ICT Teaching Materials Research Papers Melissa Høegh Marcher IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Ingrid Maria Christensen IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Nanna Inie IT University of Copenhagen, Center for Computing Education (CCER), Claus Brabrand IT University of Copenhagen |