Though the debate over the gender gap in computer programming may be far from resolved, sociologists only recently have begun to recognize that women are not discouraged by all types of computer use. Women do not seem to feel discouraged from using computers as tools to complete tasks. Tools such as word processing software are less sex stereotyped than say computer games, and are commonly used by women. Software tools are perceived to be more relevant to other, non-computer related activities, so women actually are more likely to take fut

Women have already achieved great strides in the predominantly male world of cyberspace. Only as they continue to not only create a place for women on the Internet but actively enter predominantly male newsgroups, on-line services, and the World Wide Web can we expect to see the climate of the Internet become more open.

Though many have hoped that the Internet and on-line services would create egalitarian forums for the exchange of information and ideas, cyberspace has shown itself to be just as susceptible to social ills as the outside world. The Internet is not in a vacuum from the world of its subscribers but is a world created by these subscribers who do not lose their attitudes towards race, sexuality, politics, or gender when they log on. Though statistics on sexual harassment on the Internet and on-line services are impossible to compile, most of the 10% of women on the Internet are all too familiar with the boys network of computer networking. Stories of continual pick up-lines, put-downs, and sexual threats are common and have gained the attention of much of the mainstream press. Newsweek compiled many common stories of harassment on the net for a controversial cover story on gender and computers in 1994. Among the anecdotes was that of Janis Cortese, a physicist at Loma Linda University and her experiences attempting to join a Star Trek .Such harassment is not surprising when one considers that the Internet environment is almost exclusively male and that participants are at least partially anonymous and held less for their actions. Participants on the Internet can easily create an anonymous handle for themselves. Someone who wishes to flame anyone else on the net also enjoys the freedom of being physically distanced from those they attack. They will never have to look the person they insult or threaten in the face, their family and co-workers will never hear about the flames they post, and governments are still wrestling with how to regulate materials on the Internet.

The most striking result to emerge from the surveys is the extent to which MIT undergraduates feel that they are less prepared than their peers to major in course 6, and that the women feel this way much more so than the men. When asked to agree or disagree with the statement "I had less prior computer experience compared to other MIT students," 35% percent of the core course men, 65% of the core course women, 74% of the transfer in women, and 63% of the transfer out women indicated that this was either "somewhat true" or "very true." For the statement "I had less prior EE experience compared to other students at MIT," 53% of the core course men, 79% of the core cour

Some topics in this essay:
Wide Web, America Quittner, Women's Wire, , Society Kantrowitz, Participants Internet, Stacy Horn, Star Trek, America OnLine, Wire Hafner, on-line services, internet on-line services, internet on-line, world wide, transfer women, core course, sexual harassment, predominantly male, women's wire, women feel, wide web, world wide web, major course 6, somewhat true true, newsgroups world wide,