Topic 4.3 Gender and Technology

Topic 4.3

Gender and Technology

Activity 4.3-1 (allow 30 minutes)

Actually as it is being stated earlier in this topic that boys or male are mostly more interested towards using any kinds of gadgets or machines as compare to the girls.(according to the common beliefs) and the same problem arises at home though educated parents do not differentiate between their children on the basis of gender difference but in common practice boys are given more priority over girls as far as using the comforts and luxuries are concern and where parents cannot afford to have a separate machine for each and every child. Secondly boys are more into machines , they like and prefer to learn skills as compare to knowledge based learning and computers is a best way to make them learn what they prefer. On the other hand mostly girls are more into knowledge based learning and they prefer to learn new things by reading . so conclusively the same difference could be seen in their reaction towards use of computers and if they are not given required emphasis or motivation they seldom takes interest in the computers.

of course all of us had equal access to the computers and time slots was fixed to use the computers.

Of course all of us have equal access to computers . it is because we have enough number of PCs available.

As far as school is concern , because of the shortage of timings and other related factors like planning , teaching time slots etc, most of the teaching staff prefers to do their work at home and takes he hard copy from the school’s lab. I our school there are 20 PCs and one printer for the use of teachers as well as for the students. Where as our headteacher have his own system along with a printer so here the difference is not gender based but position based. And computer instructor have full access over printer, scanner, speakers, microphones etc, it is just because of her job type (as in our case it is a female) so gender based difference is not the case here.

Well what I feel is that this gender thing is a centuries old issue of the rights of the female, there position in the society, the respect and privileges she had etc. though education has brought some awareness but still in the under developed and developing countries it is the main issue. Parents could be motivated by examples of those females who are on the top most position in their respective fields and by making them aware that the role of male and female is imposed by the society but nature has not limited a female in compare to man. Lectures and seminars, face to face sessions with female professional (specially computers) could be arranged . what I personally feels is that in our school parents teacher association will not work instead we can get in touch with our parents through PTMs and informal meetings.

Activity 4.3-2 (allow 5 minutes)

Girls usually do not want to play with blocks, legos etc. they like playing with dolls , doll houses , accessories of doll and love to play house hold chores act game with the help of different sets available . it is probably because girls see their mother doing the same at homes. I have seen one or two boys who like to play with dolls but then again my observation told me that they have an influenced of their single mothers over them. So it is not something that comes within, it is behavior that a child takes from his surroundings also.

For Act 4.3-3 see the attached file.

Activity 4.3-4 (allow 20 minutes)


As it is very clearly stated that cooperative learning is a very good example. This emphasis the importance of working together not considering working with boys or girls but working with young and talented individuals. In school specially, students must be considered as only students not a girl or a boy. They should be given equal opportunity to grow and be competent . This could be done with cooperative learning where each and every student play his part and even help those who are not as strong this way only we can give a chance to our girls to grow and step forward and keep up with the technology. As far as this thing is concern that they should have single gender or mixed gender group, it is important to know that a teacher ‘s job is to encourage all the students to learn and grow and not to get gender biased and grow rivalry against each other. Plus because of the mixed gender group students will learn more and bring good results as females are good at collecting data, organizing it , building social rapports etc where as males are good at constructing the product.