An overview on women in tech (and on this blog)

By Judith Astelarra, emeritus professor, Department of Sociology, Autonomous University of Barcelona.

I must say that when I was invited to participate in this debate several months ago I did not like the question. Now I think that it was a provocative question that lead to very interesting answers. However, I still have doubts about the question because I feel that if what we want is to analyze the absence of women in the sector of technology, do we need to play this provocative game of making a transvestite of Steve Jobs?

Steve Jobs was an outstanding creator, everybody has agreed on that. Traditionally the creators in any field, had been considered beings who had an exceptional individual talent that was emphasized in its work. However, individual genius can only be put into practise and recognized in social and cultural contexts. It is society that allows the creative talent to be developed and, what is equally important, is responsible for the recognition of the value of the creation. Gender is part of this social context related to creation, but there are other factors as well.

«We can look at the women that are now in these fields, even if they are a minority, to see if they make a difference»

Most of the answers to the question about Steve Job have spoken about how the gendered dimension of society and culture, characterized by inequality for women, have been an impediment for women’s incorporation in the technological field in terms of creation, production and recognition (the “icon”).

Others answers have stressed the individual characteristics of technological creation be it men or women. Only a few have dealt with Steve Jobs as a creator and tried to relate it to gender. In this sense, I liked very much the analysis made by Gillian Marcelle. In describing Steve Jobs as a woman most of the answers either spoke generally of the situation of women, or plainly admitted that they did not know whether it would make such a difference. Henry Jenkins spoke about Bill Gates, what was very interesting because here we deal with two men, in the same field and time, who shared gender but were different.

All these answers could have been just the same if Steve Jobs had not been in the question and all we were dealing was with the issue of women and technological creations. What makes me uneasy about it is that, even if it is not the intention, the proposal of replacing Steve Jobs by a woman leads to a sort of confrontation between men and women.

«Finding places in which both genders can collaborate is also part of the feminist proposal of creating new realities»

I have been a feminist from the late 1960 and early 1970 when I was doing my PhD at Cornell University. When we started, women’s inequality was not even a social, cultural and political issue. We needed to be loud and confrontation was part of it. But now, the situation is different. Obviously inequality still exists and we need lobbies and political movement to deal with it. But the problem is now recognized and there are women now in the fields from where they were excluded. We can evaluate what we have done to correct inequality and look for new things to do. But, we can also look at the women that are now in these fields, even if they are a minority like in the technological field, to see if they make a difference. Not just give hypotheses of “what if” that cannot have rigorous answers.

I liked very much the answers that stated the need of social innovation in technology, no matter what the person’s gender is. I think that finding places in which both genders can collaborate is also part of the feminist proposal of creating new realities. Here we can play the game “what if”, not changing the past but looking at the future, because in this case imagination can be used. Starting from the problems that the TIC have today and the new lines that should be developed in the future, we can think of a woman (even if imaginary) that can play the role that men like Steve Jobs played in the past. We would not be using a man as a reference, we would be using women’s experiences and realities today. An endeavor that can be shared between this new outstanding woman and the men of her time. A pluralist proposal that does not discriminate anybody.

But in spite of my doubts with the question I really think that the debate has been very interesting.

A portrait of Stephanie Jobs

By Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin, Vice-Chancellor, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

If Steve Jobs had been a woman, she would have probably been named Stephanie and would have started and co-founded Apple in her family’s kitchen, not in her family’s garage. Stephanie Jobs would have completed her bachelor’s degree and continued to obtain a PhD. She would have postponed marriage to avoid the hassle of balancing work and family life. She would have started her career in a male-dominated division of an IT-company and would have become the first woman to rise to its top CEO position. She would have been a dynamic, visionary and charismatic leader driving the company to greatness.

As a leader, Stephanie would have worked extremely hard, moved very fast and made creative decisions. While Steve was job-centered, she would have neglected neither her employees nor their families. Stephanie would have used the same presentation style for launching her Apple products to motivate and instill in her employees, particularly women, the need for achievement, power and affiliation, while meeting the goals of their personal lives. She would have used her CEO position and charismatic leadership style to help her workers identify with her on the emotional level, including sharing her battle with cancer. She would not have dared to be different, and would have made decisions outside the normal rules .

«As a leader, Stephanie would have worked extremely hard, moved very fast and made creative decisions»

In business, as in life, she would have cooperated rather than competed. She would have been very focused and clear in what she wanted, pouring her ideas into her products with passion and intensity. All these would have been part of her perfectionism in creating the most beautiful and highly-sought after consumer products, as well as leading one of the most successful technology companies in the world today.

If Jobs had been a woman, she would have paid more serious attention to her health. After being diagnosed with cancer, she would have stepped away from Apple and devoted her life to her family and charity. She would have developed a Foundation and devoted her talents and genius to solving incurable diseases, environmental problems and human conflicts around the world. If Steve Jobs had been a woman, she would not only made our world more beautiful with iPods, iPads, iTunes, Macintosh and Pixar Movies, but she would have also used her products to make our world a safer place to live in.

ICTs are not synonymous with knowledge society and woman is not synonymous with gender

By Gloria Bonder, Director, Gender, Society and Policies Area, FLACSO Argentina

Women, in Latin America and in most regions, are a minority in technology production, and this is one of the most significant digital gender divides. The research we have carried out from the UNESCO Chair in Women, Science and Technology in Latin America confirms this. However, the results enable us to state that gender inequalities in this field do not only concentrate on this issue. Age, ethnicity, educational and socio-economic level and area of residence (urban/rural) are some of the determinants that have a significant influence on the construction of this techno-cultural environment.

Only an uninformed view would lead us to state that the first step has to be increasing the number of women in technological production. Looking more closely, we realize that change does not start there.

«Creating technology with gender awareness is a first step towards a society that is more receptive to both women and men's ways of thinking and innovating»

Encouraging the interest of more women in technology careers, reversing the stereotypes that associate ICTs with the male world, promoting the full participation of women in technology-based enterprises and encouraging strategic appropriation of ICTs by both women and men, are some of the links of this chain that must be strengthened.

Having (more) women in technological production does not ensure an information/knowledge society that is more inclusive, diverse and attentive to their needs, desires and interests. However, if the person who creates technology (either male or female) does so with gender awareness, we will have taken a first step in overcoming inequalities, and in the construction of an information/knowledge society that is more receptive to everyone's ways of thinking, innovating and transforming, both men and women.

If Steve Jobs had been a woman, perhaps the only difference would be the Apple logo.

We see what we want to see

By Jordi Bernadó, photographer
 

What would have been of Steve Jobs if he had been born a woman? I find it impossible to imagine the answer, in the same way that I cannot think what would have been of Steve Jobs if he had been born in the heart of Africa, if he had been born a hundred years earlier or if he had been born with a physical disability. Each one of us is not just who we are, we are also our circumstances, and our gender configures us as much as where we come from, the period in which we live and the family environment in which we grow up.

«What we characterise as feminine or masculine remains subjective to ourselves, to our experiences, to our deepest desires»

On the other hand, I also find it difficult to imagine how Steve Jobs would have been different if he had been called Susan, for example. Which personal characteristics would change? What is it that makes Steve different to Susan? I do not have the faintest idea. If I must be honest, I have to admit something: I do not know what a woman is. Do not misunderstand me; I do not know what a man is either. The physical categorisations that we all understand very clearly - or at least we all have a very clear understanding of the physiological attributes that accompany both genders - vanish when we want to take into consideration the mental or purely ontological realms. How would Susan be different to Steve? No idea. What we characterise as feminine or masculine remains subjective to ourselves, to our experiences, to our deepest desires.

Reality is far more rich and complex than our minds are able to fathom, and if I have learnt something as a photographer, it is that we do not see what there is, we see what we want to see.

© Jordi Bernadó

My photos always show reality and fit into a tradition of documentary, neutral photography. Yet as I say, although everything seen in them may always be real, we often do not know what we see. This is the case with this photograph, which clearly shows a female skater's leg in the foreground, but it is not very clear where it comes from. The size and the scale seem off and it seems out of place. It provokes questions and I find that interesting because it is the beginning of a story. I have chosen the skater's leg to illustrate my post because I believe it reflects my idea of strangeness in the face of what we take for granted but, deep down, is a real enigma. This photograph is included in the book True Loving and Other Tales (Actar, 2007).

A problem of personal potential and innovation

By Gerald Hüther, Professor of Neurobiology, University of Göttingen (Germany). 

© Josef Fischnaller.

Of course, men are different from women. For a woman, for instance, it is rather difficult to disclaim the motherhood of a child. In this sense, Steve Jobs had a daughter, Lisa, but he didn't accept her fatherhood for many years nor did take responsibility until she was grown up.

«Everyone makes unique experiences, and each epoch offers unique chances for certain ideas and projects»

However, and concerning the leading question of this blog, I would consider one single aspect of general validity: Each person is unique, with special talents and gifts. What differs between people are the chances and opportunities for an individual to unfold his or her potentials. Everyone makes unique experiences, and each epoch offers unique chances for certain ideas and projects. And this is true for both males and females. So, even a brother of Steve Jobs, even a twin-brother, may not have made his career; neither a sister or even a twin-sister. 

But I don't think this is a gender-specific problem. It’s a problem of an optimal fit between a person's potential and an open time window for innovative developments.

Could Steve Jobs have been a woman?

By Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice at London Business School and founder of the Hot Spots Movement

Over the last couple of years my team and I have worked with companies around the world in a Future of Work Consortium where we have looked at technology trends including how Gen Z’s (those under the age of around 12) think about work and technology. Will this generation create another Steve Jobs? Certainly this generation are true mobile mavens, they take for granted a world of smartphones, tablets and high-speed wireless Internet, untethered from the constraints of a landline or a traditional Internet connection and they don’t distinguish between online and offline as they are connected all the time. We have video clips of kids younger than two years old working proficiently with iPads, often using games before they can even talk. What is interesting is that we found no real gender difference in how these young generations use technology. At the same time technology is transforming the gender roles.

«In the future we can expect many jobs to be done anywhere anytime, without rigid working hours and the demise of that long-standing male bastion: the office»

Generation Z will begin to enter the workforce within the next 10 years. What will they experience? Both men and women will have lifelong experience of using communications and media technologies that are at once sophisticated and simple to use. We can expect many jobs to be done anywhere anytime. With the formality of rigid working hours we will also see the demise of that long-standing male bastion – “the office”.

Generation Z are growing up in a world with increasing equality between men and women and where single parents and same-sex parent families are no longer unusual. We can imagine that this generation will be more accepting of gender equality. Take a look at the Becoming Chaz documentary, where Chaz Bono found it was the youngest members of his family that took his gender transition the easiest whilst his mom needed more time to accept her child’s decision.

«Generation Z are growing up in a world with increasing equality between men and women and where single parents and same-sex parent families are no longer unusual»

I believe that gender equality and communication technologies will be key aspects of the information age. There are currently few women leading companies – and very few leading technology companies. But the experiences of our youngsters suggest that this will change. The next Steve Jobs could indeed be a woman.