¶ 1         Information technology increasingly permeates all aspects of life. In the last ten years, home computers have become, in some sectors of society, nearly as commonplace as telephones, and Internet access has become an apparent necessity for inclusion in mainstream society.¹ As a consequence of this social transformation, new policy dilemmas have arisen and certain entrenched policy dilemmas have gained heightened importance. One such policy issue that has taken on both a new dimension and a higher level of gravity is the threatened marginalization of women in the information technology economy.

¶ 2         Although women use the Internet in greater numbers than men,² the number of women who are information technology professionals—producers of information technology rather than simply consumers—lags far behind that of men.³ Women still comprise less than a quarter of information technology professionals,⁴ only eight percent of information technology engineers,⁵ and no more than five percent of information technology management.⁶ The percentage of women earning degrees in computer science has declined steadily since 1984 and the attrition rate among women computer science students is higher than among men.⁷ In particular, minority women make up not more than two percent of information technology professionals in the United States.⁸ Furthermore, research has indicated that these percentages will decline.⁹

¶ 3         The gender disparity in interest to learn about information technology is already firmly entrenched at the undergraduate level. According to the Department of Commerce, only 1.1 percent of undergraduate women select information technology disciplines as compared to 3.3 percent of male undergraduates in 1998,¹⁰ and the percentage of women earning bachelor's degrees in information technology fields has dropped steadily since 1984.¹¹ In the words of the U.S. Office of Technology Policy:

Women—who comprise 51 percent of the population and earn more than half of all bachelor-level degrees awarded—earn about one-quarter of the bachelor-level computer and information sciences degrees awarded by U.S. academic institutions. More disturbing is the trend line: the share of all computer science degrees awarded to women in the United States has fallen steadily from a peak of 35.8 percent in 1984, to only 27.5 percent in 1994—the lowest level since 1979.¹²

Since 1994, this trend has continued. In 2000, the percentage of undergraduate women earning bachelor-level computer and information science degrees awarded by U.S. academic institutions dropped further to only twenty-one percent.¹³ These statistics on the college level imply that by the time women select majors in college, they may have already decided against information technology professions.¹⁴

¶ 4         The existence of this gender gap, which might be termed the "gendered digital production divide," has been acknowledged repeatedly in Congress¹⁵ and internationally¹⁶ for over twenty years¹⁷ to no avail. Despite repeated acknowledgement, only limited legislative¹⁸ and private sector¹⁹ efforts to eliminate this gender gap in information technology production have been implemented. Meanwhile, the social importance of information technology was fundamentally altered between late 1998 and 2001. No substantive legislative attention has been paid to the gendered production divide in this post Internet boom era, and arguably the last two decades of efforts have been misdirected and ineffective in the aggregate.²⁰ The limited legislative efforts to date to increase numbers of women among information technology professionals may have failed partially because they have been primarily focused on adults.²¹ Gender disparities in information technology career interest are traceable throughout the educational system.²² In 1999, girls comprised only nine percent of high school students taking information technology related advanced placement (AP) exams.²³ Therefore, girls' self-selection away from computers occurs before the college level. Consequently, a more promising point for intervention is during girls' early high school and junior high school years.

¶ 5         Thus, this article calls for the revitalization of the legislative, social policy and academic discourse regarding the causes and appropriate remedies for the gender gap among information technology professionals, with two critical differences. First, this article theoretically reframes the issue of women's under-representation among information technology professionals by presenting it as primarily a technology equity policy issue to be discussed in the context of the digital divide discourse. Second, this article argues for a legislative intervention effort primarily focused on education in the junior-high and high school levels by catalyzing corporate participation in the information technology workforce education process through mentorship programs.²⁴

¶ 6         Specifically, this article presents a social policy analysis of issues surrounding the under-representation of women among information technology professionals, which might be termed the "gendered digital production divide." The article argues that:

(1)    The absence of women in the information technology industry constitutes a production divide that is socially undesirable for reasons of social governance, social cohesion, and economic self-realization;

(2)    The roots of this production divide are multifaceted, straddling various layers of society's human ecology;

(3)    Attention to this production divide is overdue, and developmentally-sound social policies that incorporate insights from multiple disciplines should be crafted in order to most efficiently increase women's presence in the information technology industry; and

(4)    Such social policy interventions are most efficiently focused on secondary and pre-secondary educational settings.

Constitutionally permissible educational experimentation, particularly experimentation that incorporates the private sector, should be encouraged.

¶ 7         Part I sets forth the proposition that the scope of the academic digital divide discourse should be redefined to include not only concerns of Internet access but also broader concerns of information technology equity. Specifically, the academic and policy polemic surrounding the digital divide should contemplate issues of economic power in a two-fold manner: the framing of the debate should include both an examination of issues related to digital access divides and an examination of issues related to digital production divides. Part I further argues that although literature has burgeoned with regard to access divides, production divides have not been addressed as zealously although they have long existed in pre-Internet incarnations. As we conclude the first decade of Internet regulation and policy, we are closer to successfully eliminating access divides in the United States.²⁵ However, production divides have been neglected and present a serious threat to information technology equity and governance in the next decade. The economy of the United States has become increasingly dominated by information and product flows mediated by information technology. E-commerce increased almost 30 percent between fourth quarter 2001 and fourth quarter 2002 and will, undoubtedly, continue to grow.²⁶ Similarly, the penetration of Internet access has progressed dramatically, with new consumers getting online and existing Internet consumers becoming more comfortable with commerce in virtual space.²⁷ Inevitably, economic forces will increasingly arise from and be contingent upon information technology. The absence of women and minorities in representative numbers from the production end of these economic forces may result in a future where women's and minorities' progress toward economic parity with men is slowed or counteracted.²⁸ Also, perhaps even more importantly, women and minorities will lack a voice in the construction of the technologies that mediate and govern their lives. Ultimately, because governance structures are inherently bound up with and influenced by technology, the end result may be the effective marginalization of women and minorities within society, hindering their full participation in their own governance.²⁹ This type of information technology inequity is socially undesirable, and, consequently, current legislative, policy and academic discourse surrounding information technology equity and the "digital divide" should more aggressively address the under-representation of women and minorities in digital production.

¶ 8         Part II introduces one production divide, the ever-increasing gender gap among information technology professionals, and it performs what might be termed a "socio-ecological" policy analysis³⁰ of this divide through an examination on the "macrosystem,"³¹ "mesosytem,"³² and "microsystem"³³ levels of society. The macrosystem, or societal level, addresses the individual's development within her society. Specifically, forces of social governance through law, informal mechanisms, and forces within civil society (such as cultural and industry bias) influence the inclusion of women in the information technology industry. On the mesosystem or interpersonal level, the entry of women into information technology is influenced by low enrollment of girls in information technology courses, lack of encouragement and role models, and suboptimal information technology curriculum. The microsystem level, which focuses on the individual herself, presents obstacles for women's entry into information technology careers because many women hold negative attitudes toward information technology or lack computer confidence.

¶ 9         Part III discusses legislative and policy initiatives undertaken to address the information technology gendered production divide. Inadequate legislative attention has been allocated to the gendered production divide, and efforts to eliminate the divide have not targeted girls at the junior high and high school levels, developmentally an efficient window for such encouragement. Finally, Part III argues that intervention is required and that, although interventions on all levels of social ecology are needed, efforts that focus on the educational system are more likely to produce results. Perhaps the key obstacle that prevents greater numbers of girls from entering the information technology field is girls' tendency to hold negative attitudes toward careers in information technology. Facilitating the elimination of this obstacle is a necessary component of any successful legislative and policy effort to address the gendered production divide. As such, innovative experimental educational programs in cooperation with the private sector should be encouraged to the greatest extent permitted by the Constitution. In particular, programs facilitating mentorship opportunities offer a promising method of both humanizing information technology for girls, thus improving their attitude toward careers in information technology, and catalyzing a re-conceptualization of corporate citizenship, thus instilling a greater sense of corporate responsibility for the education of future work forces and for eliminating digital production divides. Efforts to date to encourage girls' entry into information technology fields have failed in the aggregate. With continued neglect, the gender gap among information technology professionals will undoubtedly increase.

I.    Defining the "Digital Divide"

¶ 10         The escalating importance of the Internet and other forms of information technology in daily life is incontrovertible. This encroaching omnipresence of information technology has fundamentally transformed the nature of the social debate over information technology policy. Information technology equity and the digital divide have been described by some authors as the civil rights issue of the new millennium.³⁴ Although courts to date have not recognized a protectable individual level interest in information technology equity,³⁵ civil society and legislative bodies have begun to focus attention on the role of information technology in society and the developmental consequences of individuals' use of information technology.³⁶

¶ 11         The term "digital divide" has been used by academics and policymakers to describe the gap that exists within and across countries between information technology "haves" and "have nots"—those individuals and groups with access to information technology, specifically the Internet, and those individuals without such access.³⁷ However, as discourse regarding the digital divide has progressed, the usage and expanse of the term have burgeoned. This spiraling use of the term has pushed some Internet researchers to call for greater definitional specificity. These researchers assert that the digital divide contains numerous overlapping elements and in truth is not a single issue;³⁸ the digital divide is actually a series of issues that create inequities for different reasons.³⁹

¶ 12         Ultimately, the issues encompassed in the idea of a digital divide—regardless of how broadly or narrowly the term "digital divide" itself is defined—can all be classified as part of a broader set of policy questions relating to information technology equity. Generally speaking, information technology equity issues can be divided into two rubrics:

(1)    Issues of equal access for all potential consumers of information technology; and

(2)    Issues of equal access for all potential producers of information technology, enabling them to participate in the research, development, and production of information technology.

An inequality in the first might be termed a "digital access divide," and an inequality in the second might be termed a "digital production divide."

¶ 13         A digital access divide refers to a lack of Internet access. Such a divide might be viewed as, fundamentally, a gap in ability to obtain information: certain individuals have access to digitally purveyed information, while certain other individuals do not.

¶ 14         Numerous studies have investigated which individuals in the United States generally have access to the Internet, digital "haves," and which individuals and groups tend to be "have-nots." This body of research has examined demographic differences in digital access, including differences in income, race, education, household type,⁴⁰ age, urbanization,⁴¹ disability,⁴² geography, attitudes toward computers, language fluency and length of exposure to information technology.⁴³

¶ 15         Social science research on access divides highlights an underlying complexity that hinders remedial action targeting elimination of access divides: various causal factors cannot be easily parsed out from one another.⁴⁴ For example, although the number of low income and minority households with Internet access is increasing, some evidence indicates that access appears to be tied to income.⁴⁵ Therefore, it can be argued that without mitigating the underlying poverty of certain segments of society, universal access may not be possible. Many stakeholders are involved, and some of the most relevant variables are infrequently influenced by policy initiatives.⁴⁶ Similarly, consensus on measurement and documentation of the digital divide is lacking,⁴⁷ and firm criteria have not yet been established for determining in what circumstances this access divide will be deemed closed.⁴⁸ Notwithstanding these caveats, progress toward universal access is being achieved.⁴⁹ Between 1994 and 1998, the number of Americans owning computers increased by over fifty percent, and the number of households using e-mail quadrupled.⁵⁰ Between December 1998 and July 2000, the percentage of households with Internet access increased by fifty-eight percent.⁵¹ Over half of all households had computers by July 2000,⁵² and individuals using the Internet rose by a third.⁵³

¶ 16         Technologically disadvantaged minority groups are closing gaps between themselves and the digital "haves."⁵⁴ Research indicates that between 1994 and 2000, African-Americans and Latinos demonstrated gains in Internet access, and the disparity in Internet usage between minority women and men almost disappeared.⁵⁵ However, Latino and African-American households were still less likely to own computers than Caucasian and Asian-American households.⁵⁶ Latinos were also significantly disadvantaged in terms of knowledge of technology,⁵⁷ and African-Americans were the most likely to be totally detached from the information age.⁵⁸ Nevertheless, African-Americans without access were more likely than Caucasians or Asian-Americans without access to state that they wanted to acquire access to a computer.⁵⁹

¶ 17         Increasing levels of household income and education increased the likelihood of access to a computer, regardless of race.⁶⁰ When students were considered, race made a difference. African-American students who lacked a computer at home tended to have difficulty finding an alternative means of Internet access, while white students had less difficulty.⁶¹ Results showed, however, that if access was ensured, use tended to follow.⁶² Nationally, individuals with college degrees were more likely than individuals with only an elementary school education to own a personal computer.⁶³ Single parent households, the elderly, and rural households⁶⁴ were also less likely to be online and own computers.⁶⁵ Similarly, the gap between U.S. rural households and urban households in percentage of Internet penetration has narrowed.⁶⁶

¶ 18         One access divide that is not diminishing, however, is an access divide between developed and less-developed countries internationally.⁶⁷ Advocates of globalization argue that eliminating these geographically-based inequalities in Internet access will benefit both developed and less-developed countries.⁶⁸ Although the Internet has had a profound political, social, and economic effect on less developed countries,⁶⁹ information technology has also further exacerbated the uneven distribution of wealth, physical development, and literacy between less-developed and developed countries.⁷⁰ However, regardless of whether technological globalization is viewed as progress, global universal Internet access is clearly a distant goal; even the United States has not yet reached universal access levels. In fact, true universal access, though perhaps ideal, may not be a realistic aim. For example, the level of penetration of the telephone in the U.S. is not truly universal, remaining relatively constant at the level of 93.8 % nationwide.⁷¹

¶ 19         Some authors have argued that aside from access divides related to infrastructure connection, another type of access divide relates to accessibility of Internet content. These authors assert that accessibility of content is limited due to the scarcity of information regarding users' local communities, literacy limitations, language barriers and the lack of cultural diversity in Internet content. They estimate that at least twenty percent of U.S. residents face one or more content-related barriers that leave them underserved.⁷² Notwithstanding the foregoing, in general, the research demonstrates a consensus that progress toward remedying access divides within the U.S. is being achieved.

¶ 20         The contraction of existing access divides in the U.S. has resulted in part from public and private sector interventions designed to eliminate infrastructure barriers to access.⁷³ For example, federally funded programs have lowered costs of Internet access for underserved communities. Such programs include the Education Rate (E-Rate) program, which permits schools and libraries⁷⁴ to establish Internet connections at discounted rates, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program,⁷⁵ several programs sponsored by the Federal Communications Commission and the Commerce Department,⁷⁶ and programs facilitated by funding made available through the Library Services and Technology Act.⁷⁷

¶ 21         Schools are, rightfully, a primary locus of efforts to bridge the access divide. Authors have argued that the federal programs such as E-Rate have helped many schools incorporate technology into their classrooms.⁷⁸ Elementary schools are rapidly closing the gap that used to separate them from high schools. Small schools are nearly as likely to use certain technologies as are large schools.⁷⁹ However, some researchers indicate that schools still have room to improve not only in infrastructure access but also in content access. In particular, schools should focus on improving their technology curricula⁸⁰ and training teachers to play a more active role in shaping students' attitudes toward information technology.⁸¹ Echoing these suggestions, in 1999, Congress established the Web-based Education Commission⁸² which explored ways the Internet could change education delivery. The Commission identified several key barriers that are preventing the realization of the Internet's full potential for enhancing learning. The Commission called for making powerful new Internet resources, especially broadband access, available and affordable for all learners.⁸³ The Commission also suggested providing continuous and relevant training and support for educators and administrators; building a new research framework of how people learn in the Internet age; developing quality online educational content that meets the highest standards of educational excellence; revising outdated regulations that impede innovation and replacing them with approaches that embrace anytime, anywhere, any-pace learning; protecting online learners and ensuring their privacy; and sustaining adequate funding through traditional and new sources.⁸⁴

¶ 22         Finally, innovative private sector programs have been influential on a local level. Some authors have argued that the information technology industry should provide meaningful contributions to explicitly subsidize programs to help close the divide.⁸⁵ One such program is WorldGate Internet School to Home (WISH), which gives students, parents and teachers Internet access through a television set and a cable set-top converter, eliminating the need for computer ownership.⁸⁶ Intervention efforts have also included building community technology centers and creating partnerships among libraries, schools, and the private sector.⁸⁷

¶ 23         As illustrated by WISH, a condition of eliminating digital divides involves connecting families, schools, and communities to technology in strong, supportive, and mutually beneficial ways.⁸⁸ In addition to the direct benefits of programs fostering technological inclusion, indirect effects may also result: individuals not directly involved in digital inclusion programs may be more likely to choose to connect themselves if their neighbors are connected. For example, households tend to be more likely to buy a computer when a high percentage of individuals around them own a computer. Such "spillover effects" of subsidies for Internet access and computer purchases may provide additional rationale for efforts to close the digital divide through access interventions. The cumulative impact of such interventions appears to be significantly greater than their immediate impact.⁸⁹

¶ 24         Suggestions for continued efforts to bridge the access divide include rethinking and improving educational and market approaches, providing additional funding, and performing more research, data collection and evaluation of existing programs.⁹⁰ Most importantly, a cooperative effort across the public and private sectors is required for long term success. If provided with proper incentives, the private sector offers a useful source of assistance for schools and communities in continuing to bridge access divides. Public sector efforts alone to solve problems of digital exclusion will not be socially optimal in terms of efficiency.

¶ 25         Digital production divides refer to gaps in access to, and participation in, the information technology creation process. Unlike access divides, which relate to information access, production divides matter for reasons of social governance, social cohesion, economic security, and human development. Information technology professionals and the information technology they produce influence the future of the information technology industry, the global economy, and the daily lives of the consumers of information technology.⁹¹ By participating in the research, development, and creation of information technology, individuals progress from being merely consumers of information technology to becoming the technological legislators who wield cultural tools capable of influencing both society's development and their own.⁹²

¶ 26         The problem of under-representation of women among information technology professionals should be reframed as primarily an information technology equity issue in addition to being a gender equity issue. By placing this gender gap within the digital divide discourse, a different group of policymakers, agencies and academics will become engaged in its remediation—the same groups who have succeeded in remediating the digital access divide. Similarly, this reframing emphasizes that society as a whole benefits from greater inclusion of women and minorities among producers of information technology.

¶ 27         Movement toward elimination of access divides will not simultaneously alleviate production divides. The reason for this disjuncture rests with the development progress of technology itself: technology is progressing toward an increasingly less participatory design. In other words, in order to effectively use various applications, for example, an individual needs fewer computer programming skills than s/he did ten years ago. On one hand, this progressive simplification of graphical user interfaces is a positive step to pull more of society into the fold of information technology. However, this simplification increases the gap between the access and production divides and reflects an approach which believes that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" for users.⁹³ Consequently, progressively smaller percentages of users may become producers. Thus, a concerted effort at addressing production divides is needed for reasons of social governance, social cohesion and individual level economic self-realization.

¶ 28         Information technology is an instrument of social control which shifts power from institutions to individuals⁹⁴ and is an integral component to exercises of coercion in the 21^st century.⁹⁵ Some legal scholars argue that technology unavoidably impacts social structures and constitutionalism; all social governance occurs within a particular socio-historical technological context with which it is inextricably intertwined.⁹⁶ Further, other legal scholars argue that computer code constitutes a form of social regulation equivalent to legislation.⁹⁷ When these two arguments are contemplated in tandem, they underscore the role of information technology as a mechanism of social governance and the role of information technology creation as a form of legislative process. If these two assertions are correct, then the exclusion or lack of participation of certain groups in the creation of this technological governance context can be viewed as a type of de facto (voluntary or involuntary) technological disenfranchisement. If code is law and governance occurs within a technological context that acts upon governance processes, then the voices of all those whose lives are governed by information technology, ideally, should be represented in the ranks of the digital legislators.

¶ 29         Also, some suggest that a diverse workforce improves the quality of information technology product development.⁹⁸ According to the Congressional Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science (CCAWMS):

There is factual evidence that businesses and other organizations see a significant return on their investment when diversity is achieved. . .[I]ncreasing diversity is desirable for the five following reasons: better utilization of talent; increased marketplace understanding; enhanced breadth of understanding in leadership positions; enhanced creativity; and increased quality of team problem-solving.⁹⁹

Despite such benefits, however, we are on the verge of a digital future where a majority of those governed have no voice in a portion of the forces involved in their governance. Our future social governance will be inextricably bound up with technologies that control, but are not controlled by, a digital underclass composed disproportionately of women and minorities.¹⁰⁰

¶ 30         In 2000, 800,000 technology jobs went unfilled because of a dearth of qualified workers, resulting in an opportunity cost, by some estimates, of US$4 billion per year.¹⁰¹ The inclusion of greater numbers of women in the information technology workforce would have at least, in part, alleviated this problem¹⁰² and eliminated the need for measures such as lifting caps on H-1B visas to increase the supply of information technology workers from other countries.¹⁰³ Although numbers from 2000 may reflect inflated employment resulting from the technology "bubble," the shortage of skilled technology workers is expected once again to become a problem as the information technology industry continues to grow.¹⁰⁴ Both industry pundits and the U.S. Department of Commerce¹⁰⁵ assert that, in fact, the "new economy" is not a myth and that a fundamental change driven by information technology has occurred.¹⁰⁶ At least one report from the Department of Commerce from December 2002 corroborates this statement: it states that, despite the heavy recession in the information technology industry, information technology producing industries still contributed disproportionately to the U.S. economy and continued to grow at double digit rates.¹⁰⁷ The information technology industry is credited with twenty-nine percent of the U.S. economy's real growth, and twenty-six percent of such growth in 2000.¹⁰⁸ Despite the information technology job cuts in 2001, technology related jobs nevertheless accounted for approximately eight percent of all jobs nationwide and as much as thirty-two percent of all jobs in some areas of the country.¹⁰⁹ Information technology investment in 2002 exceeded levels prior to 2000, and businesses increased employment in information technology services in order to capitalize on investments in information technology made in 2001.¹¹⁰ U.S. businesses are expanding the importance and role of information technology in their operations,¹¹¹ and seven of the ten fastest growing occupations are projected to be in the information technology industry.¹¹² Meanwhile, Silicon Valley has begun to recover from the technology bust of 2000-2001.¹¹³

¶ 31         Studies indicate, however, that increasing numbers of workers are not able to acquire access to the technological resources needed to ensure productivity in a progressively digitized world economy.¹¹⁴ Therefore, even if digital access divides are fully eliminated, without adequate computer education and access to computers, these workers will be economically less relevant to the economy.¹¹⁵ Simultaneously, although an increasingly greater percentage of the workforce in the U.S. is comprised of women and minorities,¹¹⁶ women and minorities are severely underrepresented among information technology professionals.¹¹⁷ Women, particularly minority women, have been and continue to be systematically left out of the information technology creation process, and this gendered production divide is escalating in magnitude.¹¹⁸ Women comprise less than a quarter of information technology professionals and, in particular, minority women make up not more than three percent of information technology professionals in the United States.¹¹⁹ Only eight percent of information technology engineers are women.¹²⁰ No more than five percent of information technology management is composed of women.¹²¹ Finally, the percentage of women earning degrees in computer science has declined steadily since 1984,¹²² and the attrition rate among women computer science students is higher than among men.¹²³ In other words, no hope of improvement in representation of women in the information technology industry is in sight.

¶ 32         Simultaneously, the number of households headed by women is steadily increasing.¹²⁴ With women increasingly in the role of primary breadwinner, their economic viability in the marketplace becomes increasingly important; more people, particularly children, are starting to rely on women's income.¹²⁵ New technologies create opportunities for new markets and enlarge the need for value-added knowledge work; but, these new technologies may also cause substantial displacement of workers in routine-based jobs such as clerical work,¹²⁶ some of which may be held disproportionately by women.¹²⁷ As a greater percentage of jobs in the U.S. economy become skilled information technology positions—positions disproportionately held by men—the suboptimal participation of women in the future of the digital economy comes closer to becoming a reality.

¶ 33         Familiarity with computers is considered by many to be an essential element of economic success in the future economy.¹²⁸ During the early years of the Internet, an expectation existed among some members of the "digerati"¹²⁹ that a cornucopia of online informational resources would increase equity throughout the socio-economic spectrum. However, research suggests that the opposite may be true. If corrective steps are not taken, technology may worsen rather than solve equity disparities by causing informational stratification to be layered onto preexisting economic stratification within societies.¹³⁰ Although remedying access divides increases information equity, it will not necessarily assist society or individuals in remedying economic inequality. Remedying production divides, however, is more likely to ameliorate some economic inequality than is remedying access divides.

¶ 34         From the standpoint of human development, individuals who enter the information technology industry acquire the means to economically empower themselves and economically self-realize: information technology professionals have been historically well-compensated in relation to educational commitments, and information technology careers tend to provide a relatively efficient means of upward social mobility compared to other careers.¹³¹ Average wages per worker in information technology industries are twice the national average: on average, information technology workers earn US$73,800 while all workers engaged in non-farm private industries earn US$35,000.¹³² Certifications can be obtained in relatively short periods of time, often in a few months or less,¹³³ and individuals with such certificates frequently command salaries in excess of US$50,000.¹³⁴ In particular, entry-level technical jobs typically offer salaries twenty to thirty percent higher than the entry-level jobs typically filled by women such as clerical positions. Entry-level technology jobs usually also include benefits,¹³⁵ and many information technology positions require only two years or less of post-high school training.¹³⁶ Therefore, information technology positions offer comparatively high earning power for low levels of formal education.

¶ 35         This assertion also holds true for individuals with more than two years of post-high school training. In 2000, the median earnings of computer engineering managers, positions requiring only a bachelors degree and experience, was US$84,070.¹³⁷ By way of comparison, in 2000, the median earnings of attorneys, positions requiring a bachelors degree and three years of post-graduate study, was US$69,680 for men and US$50,648 for women.¹³⁸ Individuals who train to become information technology professionals can reasonably expect future economic rewards disproportionately large in relation to their time and educational commitment. Women and minorities who foreclose this lucrative option for themselves, or are not given entry to the field of information technology, lose a promising option for financial security in the long term and, correspondingly, they lose the non-pecuniary benefits of self-realization that would accompany this financial security.¹³⁹ In the words of one information technology professional, "[I]t's definitely worth it. The freedom that you have, knowing that no matter what happens I can support my family, I can take care of myself, I can make my own way in the world is absolutely worth it."¹⁴⁰

II.    The Gendered Production Divide

¶ 36         Currently, women comprise approximately forty-seven percent of the U.S. workforce but hold only approximately twenty percent of the information technology jobs.¹⁴¹ As articulated by the CCAWMS, this gender imbalance has not declined significantly in the last ten years and, in fact, is now increasing.¹⁴²

¶ 37         The first step in eradicating the gendered production divide among information technology professionals entails identification of the factors that perpetuate and exacerbate the gap. A multidisciplinary, holistic approach holds the most promise because the causes of the gendered production divide are complex and cut across multiple levels of analysis. Therefore, this section adopts what might be termed an "ecological" approach to the problem¹⁴³ and embarks upon a holistic analysis of the information technology gendered production divide on three levels: (1) the macrosystem/societal level, (2) the mesosystem/institutional level, and (3) the microsystem/individual level. The results of this ecological analysis underscore the importance of the need for broad-based change: in order for the gendered production divide to be eradicated change must occur with respect to each level of the problem.

¶ 38         A macrosystem level analysis of the information technology gendered production divide involves an examination at the level of the subculture or culture as a whole, along with belief systems and ideologies underlying cultural rules and norms.¹⁴⁴ In other words, the analysis focuses on the mechanisms of social governance and the world-view prevalent in civil society.

¶ 39         Generally speaking, social governance occurs through both formal and informal mechanisms. The primary formal mechanism of social governance is, of course, law, both through statutes passed by Congress¹⁴⁵ and through the evolution of legal doctrine in the courts. Informal mechanisms of social governance involve extralegal systemic mechanisms of control that circumscribe or facilitate conduct.

¶ 40         To date, although the gap in women's entry into math and science fields has received legislative attention, women's entry into information technology fields has not received similar levels of attention. This neglect may occur in part because individuals tend to perceive computer science as linked closely to mathematics and science.¹⁴⁶ However, even as a future stream of women mathematicians and science professionals seems likely because girls are entering math and science classes at higher rates than boys, girls are still choosing not to enter computer science courses.¹⁴⁷ Girls enroll in greater numbers in all courses except computer science courses.¹⁴⁸ According to at least one study, college preparatory computer science classes had 43 percent fewer girls enrolled than boys.¹⁴⁹ Meanwhile, AP computer science courses enrolled 72 percent fewer girls than boys.¹⁵⁰ Some authors attribute the narrowing of the math and science gap to education legislation on the national level, specifically Title IX¹⁵¹ and the Women's Educational Equity Act,¹⁵² passed in the 1970's, each of which specifically targeted the math and science gender gap. These authors now call for similar national efforts, focused more concretely on the area of information technology education.¹⁵³ Despite legislative efforts through the Women's Educational Equity Act,¹⁵⁴ the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act Amendments of 1998,¹⁵⁵ and the creation of the now defunct CCAWMS,¹⁵⁶ significant increases in representation of women among information technology professionals have not occurred in the last twenty years.¹⁵⁷ More concerted legislative effort in the area of the production divide is warranted.

¶ 41         Like law, informal mechanisms of governance can act as powerful constraints on individuals. One such mechanism of informal regulation may be computer code itself. If the architecture of computer code truly constitutes an extrapolation of the social values held by the coders who wrote it and reflects the social values pervading our society, as has been argued by some legal scholars, then the code itself may constitute a form of self-reinforcing social regulation: it, or the memes contained in it, may work to attract some groups within society into its production processes and work to exclude others. ¹⁵⁸

¶ 42         Software reflects the biases of its creators,¹⁵⁹ and tends to be biased in favor of what are perceived by many to be boys' interests.¹⁶⁰ For example, some research has found that girls tend not to prefer software and computer games that revolve around violence and, instead, they respond more positively to software products that require collaboration and communication.¹⁶¹ Additionally, computer games tend to under-represent women characters and frequently portray them negatively. A study performed by the children's advocacy group Children Now reviewed twenty-seven games available for the Sega Dreamcast^TM, Sony PlayStation^TM and Nintendo64^TM console systems. Children Now found that 92 percent of the games had male characters but only 54 percent of the games had female characters. Over half of the games with female characters presented them as violent and one third presented unrealistic female body images.¹⁶² It can be argued, therefore, that the code itself attempts to dissuade girls from entering information technology fields. Some authors go so far as to state that they expect the entire architecture of technology, which they believe reflects a bias due to the predominance of male coders, to change as women become more involved in computer science.¹⁶³

¶ 43         Civil society and the belief systems and ideologies of the groups it embodies act as a powerful force to facilitate or constrain individuals' participation in society. Generally speaking, two types of bias within civil society¹⁶⁴ both perpetuate and reflect the marginalization of women in and from information technology culture: one, the subconscious cultural bias which asserts that girls do not and should not interact with computers; and two, the bias within the information technology community which favors male coders.

¶ 44         Several studies have found that our society contains a cultural bias that technology is a "male" domain.¹⁶⁵ For example, one study found that pictorial advertisements in magazines depict male computer users twice as frequently as female computer users.¹⁶⁶ Similarly, another study found that computer professionals are stereotypically expected to be male, and women computer professionals are considered aberrations from the norm.¹⁶⁷ Studies also indicate that individuals are less favorably disposed toward women in information technology careers than men in those careers,¹⁶⁸ and women are more likely to experience social rejection in information technology graduate schools and sexual pressures on the job.¹⁶⁹

¶ 45         Women in the information technology industry continue to voice concern over negative industry attitudes toward women information technology professionals. If institutions reflect cultural attitudes, the gender imbalance in the Internet Architecture Board speaks volumes: currently only two women sit on the board comprised of twelve members,¹⁷⁰ and no women were among its members until 1989.¹⁷¹ Although many women feel that discrimination in the information technology industry is unintentional and occurs as a result of younger men's social ineptitude in working with women who are often older than them,¹⁷² other women information technology professionals speak of a clear presumption that pervades the industry: a woman does not have information technology skills equivalent to those of a man in the industry until she proves otherwise.¹⁷³ In the words of Carol Kovac, director of IBM Life Sciences, "[t]echnical environments are ones where you fight for your ideas, and if you automatically have ideas dismissed because of some kind of cultural subtlety, you have to fight harder. And if you fight harder, then you're a bitch."¹⁷⁴ Stated simply, "You're always trying to prove yourself, because females are not always well-received in the tech field."¹⁷⁵

¶ 46         Similarly, some women information technology entrepreneurs assert that venture capital backing is more difficult to obtain for women-owned start-ups. As a result, women entrepreneurs have begun to form organizations such as Springboard 2000, a venture capital fair aimed at assisting women-owned and operated start-ups in securing such coveted funding;¹⁷⁶ Women's Technology Cluster, the first incubator created exclusively for women-run technology businesses; and Ground Floor Ventures, the first for-profit women's incubator.¹⁷⁷

¶ 47         Mesosystem level analysis of the information technology gendered production divide focuses attention on interpersonal dynamics and the dynamics between the individual and secondary settings, such as school or work.¹⁷⁸ A potent cause of gender imbalance in information technology lies on the mesosystem level in the interactions between students and the actors in the educational system. In order for women to be equally represented in the next generation of information technology professionals, girls' enrollment in advanced computer science classes in high school and beyond is essential.¹⁷⁹

¶ 48         Female enrollment in computer programming courses lags behind male enrollment.¹⁸⁰ In 1999, girls comprised only seventeen percent of AP computer science test takers and, of those who did take the test, significantly proportionately fewer girls than boys scored well enough to obtain AP credit.¹⁸¹ Although girls' attitudes lead them to self-select away from computer science, teachers and schools also select girls out of computer science.¹⁸² Still, improvement is possible. For example, educators in the last few decades have become sensitized to girls' under-enrollment in mathematics and science. Today, girls are catching up to boys in mathematics and science enrollment. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, girls are even enrolling in most mathematics and science courses at higher rates than boys at the middle school and high school level.¹⁸³ Thus, if educators become sensitized to increasing girls' enrollment in computer science, progress toward eradicating the information technology gendered production divide is feasible on the mesosystem level. The role of the educational system is particularly important because women's persistence in technology careers appears to be correlated with the number of elective high school science courses they have taken.¹⁸⁴ Also, research suggests that in order to help foster positive attitudes in girls toward computers, exposure to and instruction in information technology should occur as early in girls' education as possible. Several studies have assessed early adolescence to be an important time to make a difference in computer attitude and use.¹⁸⁵ At least one study has found that sex differences in attitudes toward computers are strongly established by the eighth grade.¹⁸⁶ Thus, if this research can be generalized, programs to foster girls' interest in computer careers later than the junior high and high school level are less likely to be effective.

¶ 49         Research indicates that boys have more educational opportunities for mastery of computer skills and for working with role models and that boys receive more encouragement in computer use and study.¹⁸⁷ Meanwhile, girls suffer from a lack of women teachers as role models¹⁸⁸ as fewer women than men are computer educators.¹⁸⁹ Some studies indicate that teachers may also be unconsciously transmitting a message that girls do not need to participate in information technology or that the teachers themselves may be less technologically proficient.¹⁹⁰ For example, at least one study has found that on the high school level, male computer-using teachers tended to have significantly more developed curricula than female computer-using teachers.¹⁹¹ Also, despite awareness of the dearth of female technology education teachers, at least one study has found that few administrators, both male and female, would hire a woman over an equally qualified man.¹⁹² At least one study has also indicated that fathers, male peers, and male siblings play a strong part in motivating girls to engage in information technology experimentation and providing active assistance through scaffolding.¹⁹³ Interpersonal interactions tend to be positively motivational, but merely giving girls access to written materials on technology careers in lieu of mentoring does not appear to have a positive motivational effect on them.¹⁹⁴

¶ 50         Similarly, the organization of the learning setting¹⁹⁵ and curricular homogeneity may perpetuate negative computer attitudes in girls. Studies indicate that many girls' attitudes toward computers tend to vary based on the type of task. In particular, many girls tend to exhibit more positive attitudes in the context of reading and writing tasks on the computer.¹⁹⁶ By developing a computer science curriculum that takes into account the different learning styles of different students, a school may be more likely to stimulate girls to enroll in computer science classes in greater numbers.

¶ 51         In "Tech Savvy: Educating Girls in the Computer Age," the American Association of University Women ("AAUW") made several recommendations to educators regarding fostering positive attitudes in girls toward computer science and including greater numbers of girls in computer science curricula. Specifically, the AAUW suggests that educators:

(1)    Compute across the curriculum;

(2)    Provide multiple points of entry for girls into the technology curriculum;

(3)    Increase the visibility of women in computing;

(4)    Prepare tech-savvy teachers who are sensitized to gender issues;

(5)    Begin a discussion on equality for educational stakeholders;

(6)    Educate students about technology and the future of work; and

(7)    Support efforts that give girls a boost into the pipeline.

As a consequence of the aforementioned mesosystemic concerns, some parents and educators have begun to view single sex education as a promising vehicle for facilitating and increasing girls' interest in careers in information technology.¹⁹⁷

¶ 52         On the microsystem level, the analysis of the information technology gendered production divide focuses on an individual within her context.¹⁹⁸ Important considerations include not only the objectively quantifiable reality of a context, but also the subjective perceptions of the individual in the context.¹⁹⁹ Perhaps the most influential cause of the information technology gendered production divide rests with women and girls themselves and their attitudes toward careers in information technology. Many women self-select out of as many as seventy-five percent of all careers before they reach college age because of lack of confidence, lack of preparation, and discrimination.²⁰⁰

¶ 53         Girls' self-selection away from information technology courses has been attributed to a number of factors. One such factor is that many girls hold a negative attitude toward computers.²⁰¹ A preponderance of studies has found that women and girls are more likely to hold negative attitudes toward computers than men and boys:²⁰² in a meta-analysis of 106 studies published between 1984 and 1997 on sex differences in attitudes toward computers, male subjects had more positive attitudes²⁰³ toward computers than did female subjects.²⁰⁴ Although girls tend to believe that computers will be important to their futures,²⁰⁵ boys tend to have a more positive attitude toward computers than do girls,²⁰⁶ particularly minority girls.²⁰⁷

¶ 54         Analyzing minority girls' attitudes toward computers requires sensitivity to both issues of gender and issues of race in connection with the gendered production divide. Minority girls' attitudes may reflect the general lack of identification with the digital future prevalent among most minorities.²⁰⁸ Some studies have indicated that minorities do not see a future for themselves in the field of information technology because information technology is "something white people do."²⁰⁹ When students are asked to draw an information technology professional, the resulting picture is usually a drawing of a white man. In this way, the effects of attitudes toward gender and race coalesce.²¹⁰ This confluence may lead minority girls to internalize the stereotypes regarding computing ability and gender to an even greater degree than non-minority girls. Minority girls may view themselves to be twice-removed from the world of information technology—once because of their gender and a second time because of their race.

¶ 55         Girls tend to be far less confident than boys about their computer skills according to a survey conducted by the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). UCLA conducts an annual survey of entering college students' computer use and confidence, polling over 400,000 students at 717 colleges and universities nationwide. Although previous studies had reported that girls tend to use computers at home less frequently than do boys,²¹¹ the women and men in the 2001 entering class reported almost equal computer use—77.8 percent of women used computers frequently compared to 79.5 percent of men. However, female freshmen were less than half as likely as male freshmen to rate their computer skills as above average or within the top ten percent of people their age—23.2 percent of men, compared to 9.3 percent of women. In the largest gender gap in the survey's history, only 1.8 percent of women stated plans to enter computer programming, compared to 9.3 percent of men.²¹²

¶ 56         Girls also tend to identify computer technology more strongly with males.²¹³ Therefore, girls tend to view information technology as an area in which they are less competent and tend to view careers in information technology to be less desirable. According to the AAUW, part of the reason for this self-selection away from computer science may result from girls' perceiving computer science careers to be less challenging, less creative, more materialistic and more anti-social than other careers.²¹⁴ These stereotyped perceptions of computer careers may be the result of lack of exposure, mentoring and knowledge of the industry.

¶ 57         At least one clear conclusion can be drawn from the preceding elaboration of the information technology gendered production divide: any successful steps toward eliminating the production divide must contemplate and address each of the three levels of the problem: macrosystem, mesosystem, and microsystem. In particular, because attitudes toward computers appear to become solidified in children around the age of thirteen, educational interventions on the junior high and high school level may hold the most promise, particularly if they are implemented in a holistic manner which embeds the child in a broader community context.²¹⁵

III.    Chipping Away the Silicon Ceiling

¶ 58         According to the CCAWMS, a deteriorating national infrastructure may threaten U.S. leadership in information technology.²¹⁶ In order to avoid such deterioration, the U.S. must encourage, recruit, and retain a wide range of new information technology professionals, especially women and minorities.²¹⁷ The United States must view diversity among information technology professionals as a "competitive edge."²¹⁸ This perspective also appears to be shared by at least a portion of the major technology companies in the United States.²¹⁹ Nevertheless, the information technology gendered production divide has garnered only limited attention from the academic and popular press and legislators.²²⁰

¶ 59         Without active intervention across society and across developmental contexts, it is likely that the gendered production divide will continue to increase. Some intervention efforts have begun on each level of social ecology—macrosystem, mesosystem, and microsystem.

¶ 60         During the last twenty-five years, the issue of the gender divide in digital production has been on the Congressional radar screen in one form or another. However, it has not always garnered adequate levels of attention, and meaningful improvements in the numbers of women information technology professionals have not occurred. Despite the untiring efforts of former Representative Constance Morella²²¹ and hearings on the subject of women's exclusion from information technology,²²² it took almost a decade for Congress to deem the gender gap among information technology professionals a problem warranting even the creation of a commission on the subject. Since the CCAWMS delivered its report in 2000, its recommendations, which involve, among other things, the creation and implementation of information technology education standards at the state level,²²³ have not garnered high levels of attention in the popular or academic press. Production divides are not adequately addressed on the national or state level at present. Congressional action in response to the findings of the now defunct CCAWMS is warranted and overdue.²²⁴

¶ 61         Some interventions to remedy the production divide are already underway in educational contexts.²²⁵ However, further research and experimentation is needed in connection with technology education to optimize technology instruction environments for all students. Such targeted efforts can occur both through state and local governments and the private sector.

¶ 62         One popular proposal that inevitably arises in the context of remedying any gender-based educational inequity is single-sex schools and classrooms.²²⁶ This suggestion arouses both vociferous support²²⁷ and protest.²²⁸ Single sex-schools are touted by proponents as providing a mentoring network and a "safe" environment for engaging in "unconventional" behaviors and interests and, consequently, they enable girls to break from socially constructed gender stereotypes.²²⁹

¶ 63         Similarly, proponents assert that single-sex technology education is one possible mechanism to ensure equal time and access for girls to computers.²³⁰ For example, in one survey of 154 female technology education professionals, suggestions for improving enrollment and retention of females in technology education in secondary schools included establishing single-sex classes and same-sex mentoring programs.²³¹ Many parents, educators, and policy makers also zealously believe that single-sex education, particularly public single-sex education, may yield strong educational benefits for some students.²³² Anecdotal evidence regarding the effectiveness of single-sex education for particular students is plentiful.²³³ As a result, single-sex technology education environments are being employed by some educators as a method of fostering girls' positive attitudes toward computer science.²³⁴ Private organizations have begun to create single-sex technology training programs, and certain public school districts have begun experimenting with various types of single-sex pilot programs at the middle school and high school level. California, New York and Illinois are among the states that have ventured into single-sex public school experiments.

¶ 64         As the gender gap among mathematics and science professionals closes, the gendered information technology production divide will likely become the focus of future pilot programs in single-sex education. The Illinois program, in particular, is a harbinger of the future of single-sex pilot programs: Young Women's Leadership Charter School in Chicago, a public single-sex charter school focusing on technology education, opened in September 2000.²³⁵ The school is housed in connection with the Illinois Institute of Technology and was the brainchild of Businesspeople and Professionals for the Public Interest, a nonprofit organization active in legal and social reform for underserved populations.²³⁶ Like Young Women's Leadership School in East Harlem, Young Women's Leadership Charter School in Chicago particularly targets minority girls. Created as a charter school, the school is exempt from many of the state regulatory educational requirements but is subject to periodic charter review.²³⁷ The Illinois American Civil Liberties Union has voiced its opinion that Young Women's Leadership Charter School would not survive a legal challenge on the basis of Title IX and on Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection grounds, but has not yet filed suit.²³⁸ Thus, the primary objection to single-sex public technology education for girls arises out of not pedagogical but legal grounds.

¶ 65         Other types of educational programs and strategies aimed at increasing girls' interest and participation in careers in information technology include efforts focusing on instructor education and curriculum structuring.²³⁹ Educational authors have advocated training instructors to be more observant of group process and dynamics that may impact female students in the male-dominated classrooms. These authors also urge instructors to work to provide forums for female students to connect with each other in real time or on-line. They further suggest that schools attempt to increase the number of female instructors and student assistants as a way to introduce female role models. With regard to curriculum, collaborative group learning and contextual hands-on methods increase the likelihood of female students' success according to some studies. Ensuring equal time for girls' use of the computer equipment, incorporating basic computer use into the first weeks of classes, getting parents involved, holding a career orientation for girls/women, making personal invitations to female students to enroll in classes, and providing additional open lab time for students who need it, also increase the likelihood of success.²⁴⁰ Another suggestion for increasing girls' interest in information technology coursework involves building partnerships among high schools, community colleges, private information technology entities and community-based organizations to create certification, internship and improved curricular opportunities.²⁴¹ For example, a number of high schools in the Chicago public school system have begun to collaborate with information technology companies such as Cisco Systems to offer curriculum in preparation for certification examinations.²⁴²

¶ 66         Non-school-based private sector efforts are also underway. One such effort to encourage girls to become interested in information technology careers was a series of girls-only computer camps operated by American Computer Experience, which ceased operations on August 10, 2001.²⁴³ American Computer Experience began the girls-only camps with a grant from the Garnett Foundation because female enrollment in coeducational camps hovered around only ten to fifteen percent.²⁴⁴ This low female enrollment in the aforementioned computer camps reflects low enrollment nationwide.²⁴⁵ Additionally, organizations such as GirlGeeks²⁴⁶ and Women in Technology International ("WITI") attempt to raise the profile of women in technology and encourage mentoring of women by women in the industry. WITI, for example, has begun a technology incubator at Smith College to support young women in technology through mentoring and outreach efforts. It has also encouraged members to bring their daughters to the annual WITI Silicon Valley Technology Summit in order to encourage more girls to consider careers in information technology.²⁴⁷ However, these private sector efforts will prove inadequate without the sensitization of teachers and the improvement of technology education. To address gender issues in technology education, the Cisco Systems Gender Initiative, which seeks ways to increase women's access to information technology career opportunities, has created a network of partners and academies worldwide as well as a website devoted to the gender gap among information technology professionals. This website, among other things, articulates "best practices" for teaching and including women in the information technology industry.²⁴⁸

¶ 67         Further interdisciplinary research related to the developmental and demographic variables that hinder girls' and women's interest in and entry into the information technology industry is essential. Only through an interdisciplinary analysis can the complexities of the gender gap be understood. Perhaps one of the most important areas of research on the individual level relates to the source of many women's negative attitudes toward computers.²⁴⁹ These negative attitudes and internalized gender role socialization²⁵⁰ may provide the most potent source of barriers to entry into the information technology industry. In the words of one information technology professional:

[R]ealize that right now [information technology] is a male dominated area, but don't let that intimidate you, because the men that I've worked with have been wonderful [despite preconceived notions on both sides of the gender equation]. . . You may think they're going to look down on you, or give you a hard time because you're female. Or you may think you don't have the knowledge that they have because they had a head start - but don't let those notions hold you back. You're never going to know what you can achieve unless you give it a try.²⁵¹

Finally, perhaps, girls must acquire—and we, as a society, must work to encourage girls to develop—the strength and aggressiveness to demand their turn at the keyboard and server. In the words of one information technology professional:

Going through my hardware courses we were building computers and running cable, stuff like that. And the men would step in and want to take over. So I had to really assert myself, and say, 'you need to back off and let me do it.' [Once these boundaries were established,] it was fine. They backed off and then I just moved forward.²⁵²

¶ 68         In order to successfully address the underrepresentation of women in information technology careers, change within the ecology of society must occur on all three levels of analysis: macrosystem, mesosystem, and microsystem. On the macrosystem level, law and policy must reflect the social priority of eliminating the gendered production divide. Similarly, the information technology industry must commit itself to developing its future workforce in a gender egalitarian manner and expunging the negative images of women presented to children in many video games.²⁵³ On the mesosystem level, educational institutions must work toward engaging girls in information technology studies through curricular experimentation. On the microsystem level, girls' attitudes toward computers must be improved and their openness to careers in information technology must be encouraged.

¶ 69         The level of intervention that holds the most promise is the mesosystem level, specifically through educational institutions and educational experimentation. National investment in education improves productivity more than any other means.²⁵⁴ According to the Congressional Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science, an increased investment in technology education will "boost U.S. global competitiveness by increasing productivity."²⁵⁵

¶ 70         Traditionally, however, our conception of "education" has been wrongly limited to a relatively rigid set of intellectual categories. In the context of information technology education, these traditional education vehicles have failed and continue to fail girls. In the words of one researcher:

Although enrollment differences between girls and boys seem to be disappearing in most areas, the lag in computer science. . .is still cause for concern because [computer science prepares] young people for some of today's highest paying and most in-demand professions. In computer science, we see the gap developing as far back as middle school, so it is essential to address this problem in the early grades.²⁵⁶

The preceding quote articulates the importance of counteracting girls' selection away from computer science that begins early in their lives. It also points to the importance of considering individuals in context—a student selecting to participate in a particular course of studies at the correct point in the lifecourse.²⁵⁷

¶ 71         The age of thirteen years, in particular, appears to be a pivotal one for both sexes—a year where boys' scores in computer science increase and girls' scores decrease.²⁵⁸ Therefore, junior high and high school settings are perhaps a logical point for intervention in the education system. Also, because individuals learn differently in different learning contexts, experimentation and variety in educational approaches is mandated. This experimentation should occur in a two fold manner—both in using a variety of techniques advanced in the learning sciences and through techniques advanced in the corporate world, most notably, mentorship.

¶ 72         In order to better introduce high school students to information technology courses and careers, individual schools and school systems should take steps to prioritize information technology within the school curriculum. The importance of an adequate education in information technology on the high school level can be conveyed in several ways including curricular information technology requirements for graduation and mandatory information technology competence testing. Additionally, experimentation with nontraditional educational settings and methods appears to offer the best hope for remedying the current failure of adequately including girls in representative numbers in information technology courses. Diverse educational options within an educational system can effectively bolster individual girls' self-empowerment, provided that state level guarantees of educational adequacy²⁵⁹ and federal and state Constitutional guarantees of Equal Protection are met.²⁶⁰ The dearth of girls in information technology classrooms may in part result from a disjuncture between teaching methodologies and learning styles, which vary across individuals. Providing a diverse menu of educational delivery options increases the chance that individual girls will find a learning context that feels comfortable to them.

¶ 73         In order to accommodate different learning styles of different individuals, educational environments should strive for variety of approaches in five different categories of stimuli in educational settings, identified by the Dunn model of learning styles: environmental stimuli, emotional stimuli, sociological stimuli, physical stimuli, and psychological stimuli.²⁶¹ Environmental stimuli refer to preferences of individuals with regard to the physical structure of the learning environment, including classroom organization and design.²⁶² Emotional stimuli address the types of motivational influences that encourage persistence in learning.²⁶³ Sociological stimuli involve the different types of learning relations on an interpersonal level, including, for example, team exercises and informal teaching relationships.²⁶⁴ Physical stimuli are those influences related to the concrete intake of information by the mind.²⁶⁵ Finally, psychological stimuli consider preferences of the individual in connection with analytic modes and action in learning.²⁶⁶ By adopting a fundamentally flexible and contextualist approach to learning within school systems and classrooms that recognize individual students' needs, girls' interest in information technology courses and careers can be addressed one student at a time.²⁶⁷ In particular, approaches involving single-sex learning environments, professional certification programs and internship opportunities should be explored.

¶ 74         The potency of professional mentorship as an educational tool has been traditionally been underestimated on the junior high and high school despite its high levels of efficacy in many corporate contexts.²⁶⁸ Although teachers provide one source of mentorship for students, third party mentors currently working in the information technology industry offer another important source of knowledge and opportunity for student modeling.²⁶⁹ A large scale mentorship initiative holds great promise in shrinking the gendered digital production divide. It presents a type of educational intervention that would successfully integrate all three levels of the social ecology of the gendered production divide. For example, a macrosystem level mentorship initiative could be structured through tax incentives and public praise for entities who require information technology professionals to engage in school-based mentorship of girls and minorities as part of their employment. Tax incentives and positive public relations exposure are two powerful carrots to incent socially beneficial behavior by entities.²⁷⁰ A national mentorship initiative aimed at eliminating the gendered digital production divide could offer positive effects on each level of social ecology.

¶ 75         On the macrosystem level, a mentorship initiative that harnesses the expertise of the information technology private sector initiates a two-fold benefit. First, a mentorship initiative may instigate a societal re-conceptualization of corporate identity toward a view of business entities as members of society that are subject to certain social responsibilities to the forums in which they operate. Education of the future workforce is one such social responsibility. Particularly in light of the express interest of numerous information technology companies in facilitating the entry of more women and minorities into information technology, it is likely that a mentorship program will appeal to the private sector. Also, mentorship initiatives offer a seemingly efficient solution for facilitating entry of students into the workforce upon graduation because they generate connections between the supply and demand of future information technology workforce. Mentors may form lasting relationships with their proteges, which may develop into offers of employment at the outset and greater shepherding for the proteges following entry into the workforce. In this manner, retention of women and minorities within the information technology industry may similarly improve.²⁷¹

¶ 76         On the mesosystem level, mentorship programs provide a fundamentally different learning paradigm than that of the traditional classroom. The stimuli of learning styles discussed previously are operationalized differently in a curriculum that includes a mentoring component. The mentored student experiences fundamentally different environmental, emotional, and sociological stimuli than students without mentors by learning from a mentor and being incorporated into the mentor's workplace. For some students, this difference may prove determinative of their interest in information technology careers. Thus, more girls may become engaged with and interested in information technology because their perception of the information technology industry will be driven by their positive interpersonal relationship with their mentor and their mentor's workplace.

¶ 77         Finally, on the microsystem level, mentorship programs tend to provide a sense of intellectual empowerment for the mentee, giving a different perspective on professional prospects, problems and opportunitites²⁷² and advice regarding cultural expectations of the workplace.²⁷³ Meanwhile, for the mentor, a mentoring relationship can also prove beneficial.²⁷⁴ Among other things, it can fulfill the developmental need of adults for being generative,²⁷⁵ sharing their experiences and creating knowledge that exists independent of themselves.²⁷⁶ Simultaneously, mentorship puts professionals in touch with individuals who may be good prospective employees upon graduation.

¶ 78         Therefore, perhaps the correct approach to remedying the gendered digital production divide is realizing that no one approach is truly correct. Perhaps it is only through diversity in educational options while maintaining baseline Constitutional protections of Equal Protection and educational adequacy that a diverse student body is best educated.

IV.    Conclusion

¶ 79         We as a society are heading toward a future where women in the United States will continue to be technologically disenfranchised and marginalized because of their dearth among the ranks of information technology professionals. Would the entire structure of code change as a consequence of including women in representative numbers among coders and information technology management? Would software and hardware begin to better reflect the influence of a fundamentally gendered perception of reality that only women experience? Although gender theory scholars disagree on the extent that an individual's gender dispositively dictates her/his perceptions of reality, it is not possible to know whether this is the case without constructing an information technology industry that is more representative of women.²⁷⁷ Inclusion of underrepresented groups in the ranks of information technology professionals would both improve the quality of information technology products and services and the legitimacy of information technology as a mechanism of social governance by reflecting the diversity of the governed.²⁷⁸ To achieve this end, more attention to production divides—and not only access divides—is required on all levels of government as well as in the private sector. In particular, support of educational intervention at the junior high and high school level is necessitated: interventions at the junior high and high school level are most likely to impact individual attitudes and lead more girls to enter careers in information technology. Thus, states should be encouraged to experiment with educational environments and curriculum to empower girls to choose the nontraditional option of a career in information technology. Such experimentation should, in particular, include nontraditional educational programs such as mentorship initiatives, single sex technology classes within coeducational schools and high school curriculum targeted at qualifying students for professional certification, to the extent such experimentation is constitutionally permissible.

¶ 80         Information technology is the governance structure of the twenty-first century and embodies the values of its makers, the information technology professionals who create it. Without working to create a more representative body of these "digital legislators," information technology (and the legislative regulation in real space that impacts it) increasingly runs the risk of acting in opposition to, rather than acting in accordance with, the wishes of a majority of those governed. If such a disjuncture between the composition of the populace and the composition of the information technology industry is permitted to fester, a type of crisis of technological legitimacy may result.²⁷⁹ As we commence the second decade of information technology law and policy, we are faced with a fundamental decision regarding the nature of information technology: will it become the ultimate cultural tool of equality or the ultimate cultural tool of exclusion?

ENDNOTES