From female computers to male comput♂rs: Or why there are so few women writing algorithms and developing software.
Software development is one of the few professions in Europe and the USA from which women are disappearing. Current explanations range from unproven assumptions that women cannot write algorithms to insights into the misogynistic culture of this profession. This article argues these explanations are...
| Published in: | Human Relations Vol. 74; no. 8; pp. 1296 - 1327 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Sage Publications Inc.
Aug2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=151159278&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 151159278 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00187267 HRL jtl: Human Relations issn: 00187267 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Aug2021 vid: 74 iid: 8 pid: 344 pub: Sage Publications Inc. artinfo: ui: 151159278 10.1177/0018726720914723 ppf: 1296 ppct: 31 formats: tig: atl: From female computers to male comput♂rs: Or why there are so few women writing algorithms and developing software. aug: au: Tassabehji, Rana Harding, Nancy Lee, Hugh Dominguez-Pery, Carine affil: University of Bath, UK Kedge Business School, France University Grenoble Alpes, France su: Masculinity Computers Feminism Interviewing Sex distribution Qualitative research Communication Mathematical models Software architecture Fieldwork (Educational method) Theory Ontologies (Information retrieval) Data analysis Programming languages Algorithms sug: subj: Masculinity Computers Feminism Interviewing Sex distribution Qualitative research Communication Electronic Computer Manufacturing Computer, computer peripheral and pre-packaged software merchant wholesalers Computer and Computer Peripheral Equipment and Software Merchant Wholesalers Computer and software stores Computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing Electronics Stores Software Publishers Software publishers (except video game publishers) Computer systems design and related services (except video game design and development) Mathematical models Software architecture Fieldwork (Educational method) Theory Ontologies (Information retrieval) Data analysis Programming languages Algorithms keyword: embodiment feminism masculinities software development the body embodiment feminism masculinities software development the body ab: Software development is one of the few professions in Europe and the USA from which women are disappearing. Current explanations range from unproven assumptions that women cannot write algorithms to insights into the misogynistic culture of this profession. This article argues these explanations are inadequate, and illuminates how forms of masculinity constituted within software development put women in the ambivalent position of being either female or a coder, but not both. Using a poststructural theoretical position to analyse materials from a qualitative, interview-based study, we identified three constitutive ontologies of the person circulating within the profession. The Comput♂r is presumptively male and can merge with the machine, although a subset, Geeks, cannot demerge from it. The Human, presumptively female, can communicate with people but not the machine. The Ideal developer claims the best of both, that is, adept at writing algorithms and communicating with people. These ontologies are informed by a theory of the body circulating within software development whose norms are unattainable by women. Female bodies are envisaged as 'flesh', and male bodies as a futuristic merger of body and machine. This Janus-faced theory excludes female developers from practising their profession. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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