Gender Codes

THOMAS J. MISA is at the University of Minnesota, where he directs the Charles Babbage Institute, teaches in the graduate program for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, and is a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Foreword ix

Preface xiii

Contributors xv

PART I: TOOLS FOR UNDERSTANDING 1

1 Gender Codes 3
Defining the Problem
Thomas J. Misa

2 Computer Science 25
The Incredible Shrinking Woman
Caroline Clarke Hayes

3 Masculinity and the Machine Man 51
Gender in the History of Data Processing
Thomas Haigh

PART II: INSTITUTIONAL LIFE 73

4 A Gendered Job Carousel 75
Employment Effects of Computer Automation
Corinna Schlombs

5 Meritocracy and Feminization in Confl ict 95
Computerization in the British Government
Marie Hicks

6 Making Programming Masculine 115
Nathan Ensmenger

7 Gender and Computing in the Push-Button Library 143
Greg Downey

PART III: MEDIA AND CULTURE 163

8 Cultural Perceptions of Computers in Norway 1980–2007 165
From "Anybody" Via "Male Experts" to "Everybody"
Hilde G. Corneliussen

9 Constructing Gender and Technology in Advertising Images 187
Feminine and Masculine Computer Parts
Aristotle Tympas, Hara Konsta, Theodore Lekkas, and Serkan Karas

PART IV: WOMEN IN COMPUTING 211

10 The Pleasure Paradox 213
Bridging the Gap Between Popular Images of Computing and Women’s Historical Experiences
Janet Abbate

11 Programming Enterprise 229
Women Entrepreneurs in Software and Computer Services
Jeffrey R. Yost

12 Gender Codes 251
Lessons from History
Thomas J. Misa

13 Gender Codes 265
Prospects for Change
Caroline Clarke Hayes

Bibliography 275

Index 297