Henrike Paetz

Gender and Technology. The Female Factor in Software Design Henrike Paetz

Publisher Marketing: Master's Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject Women Studies / Gender Studies, grade: Excellent (A) (Sehr gut), Vienna University of Technology (Institut fur Managementwissenschaften), course: Master of Business Administration - Entrepreneurship & Innovation, language: English, comment: - Ausz. Kommentar: Viele politische Initiativen in Europa drangen derzeit darauf, Frauen in die Erforschung und Entwicklung von Technologien zu integrieren. Dennoch zeigen bisherige Massnahmen wenig Erfolg. Henrike Patz geht dem Phanomen auf den Grund, wie die Entwicklung und Nutzung von Technologie mit der Erzeugung von sozialem Geschlecht verschrankt ist. Erst ein solch grundlegendes Verstandnis ermoglicht, wirksame Massnahmen gegen die Marginalisierung von Frauen insbesondere in den mannerdominierten naturwissenschaftl. und techn. Bereichen zu entwickeln. - Best Thesis Award TU Wien 2011, abstract: In the era of user-centered design several scholars have started to take a closer look at gender as one of the decisive factors for successful innovation. While technology, and specifically information technology (IT), has become the backbone of almost all industries and a key driver for innovation, women are still largely absent from these fields. They are heavily underrepresented as technology designers and neglected as autonomous users with individual needs. This thesis sets out to demonstrate the importance of gender for technology design; it analyzes the reasons for the lack of women in technology using a feminist perspective, and proposes a number of possible approaches how gender awareness could be increased in IT with a special focus on the organizational aspects of business software design. The findings are based on an in-depth literature review and are validated by means of several case studies of female IT professionals in the global software industry. The demographic situation in the 21st century as well as the respective literature and research provide clear evidence of"