Moving towards Accommodating Women with ICT: Paying Attention to Self-inclusion Mechanisms

Abstract

Recent developments of new information and communication technologies, as well as feminisms, are essential for understanding the major changes in our societies today. Feminist research of technology, traditionally, has been focused on explaining the exclusion of women from technologies. However, a move towards inclusion is already being carried out intensively. This involves investigating the experiences of women in ICT and thereby making visible their trajectories and mechanisms towards inclusion, as well as the challenges and opportunities that are generated thereby. In this article I aim to explore the processes of self-inclusion of women in ICT and specifically to show the main mechanisms that they have followed and activated to self-include in ICT. To do this I have relied on shared experiences of a purposive sample of artistic technologists and computer technologists in Barcelona, by conducting interviews and focus groups. As a result I show a series of mechanisms that women follow and activate to access, remain in, advance, and even transform ICT. These mechanisms go beyond learning and include not only doing gender but also undoing it as well as ICT. Thus, Women in ICT seek to access and progress in ICT adapting to certain circumstances but also changing them to generate and regenerate ICT in order not just to be assimilated but better to accommodate with ICT.