21st C Reflections on Gender and Technology

By Mike Licht, CC-BY-$

In my March blog post over at the GETInsight blog, I tackle some thoughts about gender and technology in a 21st century context.  One of them is unpacking the question about why, within a female dominated career, are there so few female ed tech leaders?  And even fewer who land primo speaking gigs? As technology continues to become more and more critical in education, what's at stake here?  I know, I know...nobody likes to talk about topics that may in some way suggest there are salient biases informing the way we live and work but, guess what?  There are.  And being able to see a problem is the first step in making a change.  Being able to talk about it is even more important.

The post also examines the relationship between gender and mobile devices which, more an more, are being placed in the hands of toddlers to play games and stay entertained. What opportunities does this hold for unhinging the gendering of technology as a male-dominated space and how can we, as adults, play an effective role in ensuring girls use those devices to unleash curiosities and be active contributors in, rather than consumers of products that will quickly turn them into passive, adorning objects.

Click here to read the blog post and please feel free to leave a reflection, comment, question in the VoiceThread at the top.
 
P.S.  Isn't this image by Mike Licht awesome?