Technology now is not a handmaiden of men. The dark ages when the boys’ conversation about their latest gadgets, be it a car or a DVD player, excluded women or were seen ‘too difficult for women to comprehend’ are long over. Women can now easily beat men at tech-talk.
In the personal space, women can now hold their own as far as technology is concerned. They don’t depend on men to fix their wiring or repair a fuse anymore. They are quite capable to do it by themselves, thank you. Women are becoming comfortable owning and using their tech toys. In a US survey, more than fifty-five percent women chose plasma TVs over a holiday in an exotic resort and almost eighty-six percent women said they would rather have a digital video camera than designer shoes. Even the little black dress lost its place to an iPod although narrowly. A majority of women were comfortable using technology and even confident of troubleshooting computer snags themself.
The reason for this change is not difficult to gauge. As women become more and more self-reliant, they have higher monetary access and need for technology for everyday use. They need cellphones to connect to their peers and colleagues at work and to keep in touch with friends. They work with computers on a daily basis and use gadgets in their kitchen. Younger women, especially, love flaunting their latest mobile phones as much as their boyfriends. They listen to music on their iPods and finish class assignments on their laptops. Women have gained more freedom with technology that allows them to connect better with those around them and make life easier.
Professionally too, more and more women are entering technological fields and proving themselves capable of handling most difficult processes. They have also realized that they don’t need to look at approval or certificates from men to support them in this. They have created their own forums and websites to connect with each other and even participate regular in women-only tech meets and summits. Women Who Tech is one such website for women techies to connect. It is a site dedicated to ‘talented and renowned women breaking new ground in technology, and who use their tech skills to transform the world and inspire change.’ There are many such forums that support and help women in technological professions to network and share experiences, and insights.
Despite all this, studies still show that women are not making as much progress on the corporate ladder in the technology sector. Only a very marginal number of companies have women in top positions even in the Silicon Valley. The only thing that can be said about this is that technical companies who maintain a glass ceiling for women in terms of promotion still subscribe to a redundant worldview that rated women as technical misfits and are losing out on the greater multiplicity of perspectives that women bring with them.
