Another book of cartoons, this time illustrating some of the things (famous) men have said about women. When I was reading about Ada Lovelace I found it quite appalling that in her days men thought women were too mentally fragile to cope with mathematics or science.
In this book, Jackie Fleming ridicules that kind of thinking, sometimes by repeating what people like Darwin said -- she continually refers to Darwin and others as ‘geniuses’, and it becomes quite obvious fairly quickly that she does not quite regard them as geniuses when it comes to their ‘scientific’ conclusions about women. (The constant references to ‘genius’ are similar to Marc Anthony’s speech in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, in which he keeps referring to Brutus et al as ‘honourable men’.)
At other times, the cartoons and statements are silly, but no more so than the attitudes being ridiculed. For example, studying too much made women’s hair fall out.
A good corrective to some of the daft things men have said about women (and still do).
You can buy the book here: The trouble with women (Amazon affiliate link).
This review was first published in the Digital Education newsletter.
In this, the last of a three-part series on girls and women in computing, PhD student and Further Education lecturer Amanda Wilson describes how an early interest in computing followed by picking up everything she could while working led to a dream job.
In this, the second of a three-part series about girls and women in Computing, school student Ellie Gregson suggests why girls tend not to choose STEM subjects.
Young people love to use technology. In school, we jump at the opportunity to use the iPads for research, or to use laptops for typing up essays or creating PowerPoints in class. In my school, when an iPad trolley is dragged into the classroom at the start of a lesson, there is always a race between the students to the front of the classroom, desperate not to have to share it with others, or be stuck with a tablet with a 10% battery life remaining.
This is the first of three articles about girls and women in Computing.
On March 8th it was International Women's Day.
At last! Or, to use the vernacular, woo hoo! The latest edition of the Digital Education ezine is now out. It contains a round-up of products seen at Bett, articles on girls and women in technology, loads of links and book reviews. Here’s a detailed list of the contents:
In the context of technology, the main issue is that not enough girls go into computer science studies beyond the statutory provision, or computer-related jobs. Various figures are cited, but it seems to be generally agreed that only around 16 or 17% of students in undergraduate courses in Computer Science in the UK are female, and only around 27 or 28% of employees in information technology jobs are women — a figure that is true for both the UK and the USA. So what can be done about it?
I turned my collar up against the wind. A useless gesture, because the wind contemptuously insinuated itself under my skin regardless, but it made me look hard. And hardness was needed in this job. I walked around the playground, glaring at kids who even just looked like they might be thinking of doing something wrong. Crowds of them parted as I approached. One looked shifty.
“You got a problem, son?” I gritted.