Gender and technology

How could we explain that, in some other countries, significantly more women opt for engineering studies and careers than in Flanders? Why do boys and girls with comparable study results not move up to the same extent to the higher levels in the research world? Which relationships can we discover between gender and cognitive styles and how do these cognitive styles affect the choice of an education? What is the added value of gender diversity for the research method of various disciplines? How do novel technologies affect the experience of femininity and masculinity? When and where do opinion-makers use or misuse scientific theories in support of male or female stereotypes? The subject ‘gender and technology’ gives rise to lots of very different questions.

The Flemish government attaches special importance to some of them, such as the necessity to have more women contribute their ideas to our knowledge economy. The government also wants that gender mechanisms should no longer lead to unequal opportunities and inequality. These changes will require a sharper gender awareness in Flanders.

The IST will invite several authors — both men and women — to make a contribution to this essay bundle, which will be published in 2011. At the occasion of this publication, the IST will organize a conference, where the various essays will provide the subjects under discussion.