Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Confessions of an Aca/Fan: Archives: Girls, Gaming, and Gender: An Interview with Game Designer and Researcher Jennifer Jenson (Part Two)

And finally, it has been the case for nearly 30 years now that women have not chosen to enter computer science and engineering fields, that they have stayed away from programming courses and careers in computer-based industries, and the fact that so few women are a part of the games industry means that the above two issues persist. This inequity falls on the shoulders, I think, of educators and educational institutions who have (with a few exceptions) not been able to turn the tide of so few women participating in the kinds of secondary and higher education that might lead them to career paths as game designers, and here I don't mean by assuming that that inequality will be made up through the 'art production' side of things. We in education need to examine how it is we teach those subjects and who we encourage and at times actively discourage from those related areas, as well as actively promote programs of the kind that we are participating in like the 3G Summit, as at the very least, for a short period of time, it puts girls roles chances are they might not have experience before.

The dearth of women in technology can not be said often enough. This stagnation, if not decrease, has been measured for 30 years now. Theoretically at least, women in general have improved their overall position of power and wealth during that time. That makes the lack of movement in this particular area very interesting. Next question though is tricky. Where to from here?

Posted via email from andragy's posterous

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