DOMINIC W. MASSARO, editor
University of California, Santa Cruz

Gender and the Digital Divide

Gender and Computers: Understanding the Digital Divide
By Joel Cooper and Kimberlee D. Weaver. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 2003. xi + 168 pp. Cloth, $19.95.

What influence does gender have on the digital divide? In preschool, both girls and boys show similar interest in computers (Williams & Ogletree, 1992). Studies show that by the beginning of middle school, boys' interest increases and girls' interest decreases (Anderson, 1993; Holis, 1985; Fetler, 1985; Chappel, 1997). The percentage of female full professors at computer science PhD-granting departments during the academic year of 1993–94 is a dismal 5.7% (Camp, 1997). What is more interesting is that while the percentage of women has increased in most professions that were formerly considered male oriented, the percentage of women graduating with bachelor's degrees in computer science has decreased from 35.8% in 1984 to 28.4% in 1996 (Robb, 2003).