In this position/experience paper we address some issues related to gender and technology with the firm stand that the empowerment of girls and women has to rely non only on the access to technology on the utilizer side, but also – and maybe above all – on the inclusion of women on the producer side, and that achieving such objective demands engagement and explicit actions from stakeholders at different levels, including the educational and the scientific levels. In particular, we outline a virtuous chain in which society favors the interest of girls in ICT and their engagement in ICT studies, education professionals prepare girls for ICT careers, and the scientific/technology community explicitly acknowledges the beneficial role of women in the design process. With this goal in mind, after discussing example actions at societal level, we briefly present main features and results of the PinKamP program, an initiative at educational level organized by the Department of Information Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics of the University of L’Aquila and addressed towards girls of the 3rd and 4th classes of high schools to promote girls’ interest in and engagement with STEM studies. Finally, we launch a “call for action” at scientific level within the socio-technical systems community, trying to lay the basis for a discussion within the STPIS workshop.

Gender equality: The need for explicit address and actions in ICT and Socio-Technical Systems agendas

Tarantino L.;Di Marco A.
2021-01-01

Abstract

In this position/experience paper we address some issues related to gender and technology with the firm stand that the empowerment of girls and women has to rely non only on the access to technology on the utilizer side, but also – and maybe above all – on the inclusion of women on the producer side, and that achieving such objective demands engagement and explicit actions from stakeholders at different levels, including the educational and the scientific levels. In particular, we outline a virtuous chain in which society favors the interest of girls in ICT and their engagement in ICT studies, education professionals prepare girls for ICT careers, and the scientific/technology community explicitly acknowledges the beneficial role of women in the design process. With this goal in mind, after discussing example actions at societal level, we briefly present main features and results of the PinKamP program, an initiative at educational level organized by the Department of Information Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics of the University of L’Aquila and addressed towards girls of the 3rd and 4th classes of high schools to promote girls’ interest in and engagement with STEM studies. Finally, we launch a “call for action” at scientific level within the socio-technical systems community, trying to lay the basis for a discussion within the STPIS workshop.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11697/253788
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