Demographic variables such as economic status, lifestyle, location and gender have a great impact on internet use and adoption practices. Schell and Dodge (2002) argue that men are more likely to have access to internet at an earlier age and to be more interested in programming, hacking and cracking. However, we are increasingly witnessing this gender divide diminishing as the variety for internet use increases.
Women are taking a proactive approach in accessing the internet all around the world. However internet use and access relating to gender is still highly dependent of issues such as location, cultural factors, economic status and religion.
Despite its military origins and its enabling capacity for all sorts of new cultural formations- including highly misogynistic ones-the internet is far from being coded as a predominantly masculine domain. (Spender 1995;van Zoonen 2002)
Several studies support this and have revealed that the internet is currently being dominated by women who are using the internet at different stages in their lives.
There are varied and a range of subjects that attract women to the World Wide Web; information, communication, fashion, family, beauty,relationships, sex and even careers.
I might be wrong in assuming that the internet is the next best thing that has happened to women. I find it liberating and informative- if you look in the right places. Coming from a culture that was mainly patriachal, with mostly men dominating positions of power, the internet has given me an edge to equip myself with information that has given me a lead in every aspect of my life.
With simple clicks of a button, I can communicate to my friends around the world, I can shop online for my family and compare prices and get a good bargain, I can conduct my study research and I can know the latest trends in fashion.
The World Wide Web is a companion, it gives women who are stay at home mums an opportunity to entertain themselves and inform themselves.
As a medium of consensus, cooperation, conversation and social networking, parallels have been drawn between the internet and the earlier coding intrinsic uses of telephone based communication as feminine. This is one way in which the internet has been reclaimed as an expression of femininity. (spurgeon)
I wonder if this is the internet is a big catalyst for closing the gap in this male dominated world where women have to continually prove themselves at all odds? COuld it also be to our detriment that we are more exposed via the internet thus more vulnerable?
References:
Schell, H. B. (2007) The Internet and society: a reference handbook. USA. Library of Congress
Hi Mercy, interesting post
ReplyDeleteAs a counter-point, if the majority of Internet use is by women, is the Internet not as relevant to men beyond unisex things like email and social networking? If males are more likely to be given access to the Internet, perhaps parents should be encourage to provide the Internet to all their kids regardless of gender and shown the benefits of it.
I would also challenge the notion that women have to constantly prove themselves in the modern world. Women in first-world countries can pretty much do whatever they want, progressing in a career is difficult regardless of gender. There is evidence that a majority of new managerial positions are going to women, and more than 60% of uni students are female. If anyone wants I can try and track down statistics backing these figures, but I do remember seeing them previously in an assignment I wrote in my HR Bachelor course. The world is male dominated because of the intertia of the past, if anything the future will be female-dominated. There are issues like the wage gap, but that is not present in every industry and is a complex issue. I see Internet as the great equalizer because each person can customize their experience, site patronage and social interactions based on their values and interests.
In third world countries women are not given as much education or support, but I think the best solution is to increase the wealth and access to resources of people in these countries so they don't have to make the decision of which kid to send to school or which one to feed today. Life for men in these countries can be difficult as well with 16 hour work days in dangerous workplaces. Clean water and other basic resources need to be provided to children so they have time to learn. Local economies need to be improved so, perhaps in the future, all schools will have access to basic laptops and internet usage.
Women can be at risk of predators by sharing personal info on social sites, and juveniles also are at risk of this. There needs to be greater regulation of how companies who run social networking sites, as well as ISP's, handle our private data.
Grish