Sunday, December 03, 2006

Girls use technology; women spurn tech careers

Justine Cassell, director of the Center for Technology & Social Behavior and a professor of Computer Science & Communication Studies at Northwestern, is wondering why:

The most recent Kaiser Family Foundation Report on youth and technology showed no difference in boys’ and girls’ use of technology across several categories, including time spent with the computer and on the Internet. In fact, teenage girls dominate boys in several technical activities, particularly those related to communication and information seeking. 97% of teenage girls have used instant messaging, compared to 87% of boys their age. 57% of teenage girls have sent text messages, compared with only 40% of boys.

What happens when those girls grow up? The picture still seems to be good - adult women are interested in using and purchasing technology. In 2002, the Consumer Electronics Association with eBrain Market Research tracked women purchasing and using technology and discovered that women are just as likely as men to be early adopters of technology.  That same study showed that a majority of women surveyed selected an HDTV over a 1 carat diamond ring, and a digital camera over a pair of 1/2 carat diamond earrings (the study equated items of similar cost).

Is it only me or has anyone else noticed that the comsumer press implies that it’s men buying up all those Hi-Def flat screen TVs?

[W]hen we shift the focus to educational and career choices, the picture is a quite a bit bleaker. While young men and women spend equal time using computers and are equally likely to be online, girls are five times less likely than boys to consider technology-related studies in college and technology-related careers.... Even taking into account diminishing numbers of students entering Computer Science in general, women are less likely to enter CS than men, and less likely than they were several years ago.

When I chose television production as a career in the early 80s, I was under the very mistaken impression that it would be a gay-friendly occupation. All those sensitive portrayals on-screen did not translate into sensitive understanding off-screen from the production crew.

I took to saying then (and please forgive me my stereotyping based only on my experience from way back when; I’m thinking it’s changed since) that the television production culture was more akin to the car-mechanic culture; and as such equally pin-up, macho and male.

Now I’d say that goes doubly so for IT. Ask me nicely and I might explain why one day. Suffice it to say now that I think IT has a lot to learn and could benefit greatly from taking on some of the ways of the library (a historically female occupation I hasten to add).

The library has been deeply impacted and will be completely transformed by the networked world. With the library’s long legacy of opening up information to the public, protecting privacy, serving the patron and, significantly, securing public funding and using sophisticated tech systems, it’s just too damned bad that it’s not the other way around.

SEE ALSO: Justine’s take on the real reason behind the fear of girls using social networking sites, “I believe these moral panics gain hold in part because people are fearful of women becoming empowered as technology users and producers.”

Me too!

Romney & abortion

Listen up Georgia!!!

CNN:

Romney ran as a moderate during his 2002 gubernatorial campaign. Despite saying he personally opposed abortion, he not only pledged to leave the state’s abortion laws intact, but noted his mother, Lenore, ran for U.S. Senate in 1970 as a supporter of abortion rights.

He now stresses his opposition to abortion in speeches across the country.

Flip. Flopper! Can we trust him? Newt says YES! - “I think Mitt Romney has an opportunity to fill [America’s yearning for a clearer conservative voice.]” (But then, we all know what Georgia really thinks of Newt now don’t we?)

Meanwhile, the pissing contest between McCain and Romney over gay marriage offered up Jonathan Rauch the opportunity to point out that Romney’s having it both ways:

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney charges it’s "disingenuous" of Sen. John McCain to think (1) gay marriage is a bad idea and (2) the issue should be left to the states (not a federal constitutional amendment). This, says Romney, is "having it both ways." Morality trumps federalism. I disagree, but it’s a coherent position.

But wait. Mitt Romney opposes abortion. "I believe that abortion is the wrong choice except in cases of incest, rape, and to save the life of the mother," he wrote in 2005. So does he call for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion? Umm...actually, [here he says] abortion should be left to the states. [...]

So there’s room for moral variance on whether to slaughter unborn children, but not on whether to marry gay couples.

Which has Andrew Sullivan asking, “Why is he not in favor a federal constitutional amendment to ban all abortions?” (Andrew’s wondered before about an abortion amendment.)

Romney’s recent past pro-gay positions

I actually think he’ll get away with this stuff here, which just makes me believe all the more that Democrats have more of an opportunity than they’re willing to bother with here. But I digress.

Given that Romney wants to own Georgia, let’s revisit his position on gays. Like the homo homophobes, it looks like his tough anti-gay marriage position is to cover his own pro-gay past. CNN:

In 2002, Romney’s supporters also handed out fliers with well wishes from him and his running mate during Boston’s annual Gay Pride Parade. He was endorsed by the Log Cabin Republicans, a group of gay party activists. In 2003, he signed a proclamation hailing a gay youth parade.

2002 to 2006. Golly, that’s a quick turnabout. Let’s go back a little further. Bay Windows:

When Romney ran against Ted Kennedy for the Senate in 1994, he wrote a letter to the Mass Log Cabin Club in which he pledged: “[A]s we seek to establish full equality for America’s gay and lesbian citizens, I will provide more effective leadership than my opponent.”

Uh, need I underscore? His opponent was Ted Kennedy. What about that other Mass. liberal, John Kerry:

During [Romney’s] 2001 run for governor, his campaign distributed bright pink flyers at the June Pride parade declaring “Mitt and Kerry wish you a great Pride weekend!” During his inaugural speech, he said it was important to defend civil rights “regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or race.” He appointed eight openly gay and lesbian people to high profile positions in his administration. And...Romney doubled the budget line item for the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth.

Romney week in Georgia

I missed this earlier in the week:

It’s Mitt Romney week, at least in the South.

A day after a key South Carolina operative, Warren Tompkins, joined his team, Romney’s Commonwealth PAC announced that Eric Tanenblatt, senior managing director at McKenna, Long & Aldridge and Gov. Sonny Perdue’s former chief of staff, will head up Romney’s finance team in Georgia.

And quite a team: Nancy Coverdell, wife of the late Sen. Paul Coverdell; Fred Cooper, the general chairman for Bush ‘08; James Edenfield, CEO of American Software and Joe Rogers Jr., CEO of Waffle House.

That list leaves out a ton of party positions this group has held. The bottom line is that this is a big chunk of the core Bush crowd in Georgia, going back to before the elder Bush became Bush 41.

Anyone who’s read anything I’ve written here this week will guess that I don’t think the Dems should be ignoring these goings on. As I hear it some evangelicals wonder how Christian a Mormon really is, and then there’s his gay thing. And abortion.

Perdue succeeds Romney

How convenient:

ATLANTA - Sonny Perdue has taken the reins as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, a post that will boost the Georgia governor’s profile as the GOP tries to regroup in the coming year.

Mr. Perdue was vice chairman for the past year and helped the group raise a record $27 million in the past election cycle. He takes over the top spot from Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who used the spot as a springboard for a possible presidential bid.

The brief mention (the piece is behind a firewall and not worth registering to get at) goes on to speculate about whether or not Perdue has national aspirations. But it looks much more like Romney trying to lock up Georgia for himself doesn’t it?