After today’s class, write and post at least 250 words summarizing your reading and our lecture of the selected reading from Marie Hicks’ Programmed Inequality. Think about how the feedback loop of humanity creates technology and our technology influences humanity. If one slice of humanity is over-represented in the production side of this feedback loop, what effect might that have?
Connecting to our previous class: Grace Hopper, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper
Marie Hicksâ “Programmed Inequality” is that women were not being treated the same as men because they don’t see women programming or doing any coding for technology. They believe that women aren’t smart enough to understand the programs that are being used in technology, but they don’t remember that they are smart and understand every details. It’s just that they look at the gender more and start to under estimate the fact that women are capable of doing a-lot if people would stop looking at women being useless in office setting jobs. They need to understand that they just want to be treated with the same respect as men when understanding programming and coding for technology because they want to prove something to the people who only think about the gender and not the knowledge they are bring to the workplace. She wants to let people know that women are capable of doing a lot if given the chance to show the potential they have in the places they work at.
The author Marie Hicks who wrote the article âIntroduction: Britainâs Computer âRevolutionââ; argues how women who had different roles were taken out by men. As the systems grew, they were excluded from the industry. As the industry grew, Britainâs form of technology was lost by the World Wide lead. This was probably the effects of a shift in which was occurring during that time in the new development of technology.
After reading âProgrammed Inequalityâ by Marie Hicks she gives us an insight of the sexism that exist in the technology programming world between men and women. She explains to us in the very beginning of the reading that the first computer came out of Great Britain. During World War 2, the British allowed America to see what they were making and this led to be the copy of Colossus. Many people seem to believe that the Silicon Valley and Apple Inc. were the masterminds behind our computer developments. In this time frame, women were dominant in the computer field but as the war ended the systematic thing that has happened was that it became difficult for women to stay in these types of roles. There became major questions as to how biases can be cooked into the way society is on our workplace, and the arguments of how Britain discorded women technologist last edge in computing. Women who have roles throughout a nascent British computing industry were systematically excluded from industry as it matured. Britain lost its early wide lead in its technology. British new technologies help certain classes consolidate power while stripping power from others. In many of these cases men were being promoted and women were being demoted. The challenge here would be classified as the gender spectrum and whether these effects lead to specific shifts in the new technology development. Through the idea of stripping powers of others, the question remains that with the gender gap, what kind of effect does a technology designed primarily by men get put into?
Marie Hicks is a technology historian. She works as a professor for the Illinois Institute of Technology. She received her PhD and MA in history from Duke University. She also received her BA in modern European History from Harvard. Marie Hicks argues in her book that women who have roles , throughout the nascent British computing was systematically excluded from industry as mature. That resulted in Britain losing the worldwide lead in computer technology. On Page 4 of the book it says,âBritish case shows how new tech often helps certain cases consolidate power, while stripping power from others. During this we can think back to Mazlish and continuity and consider gender gap in Silicon Valley. What kind of effect does technology designed by men affect everyone? In other words what gets put in gets put out.
Marie Hickâs âProgrammed inequalityâ was a very informative read. Hicks speaks about the
systematic sidelining and exclusion of women in the computing industry and how women played a
huge role in the rise of the industry. From what it seems women were good enough to innovate and
as long as they did not get the credit. The industry today would not be what it i if not for these
innovators. Personally I was not aware on how many women innovators there were i the
computing field. I just knew the âmain figuresâ like Ada Lovelace (probably because of the
inequality in the business) the reading makes you question whether the people who take credit
deserve the credit. Could it possibly be that so little women had contribution to a such a booming
Field? The answer is probably not. This also leads me to think about the lack of ethics in the
industry as well as the the theft of intellectual property. These things do not only happen based on
gender. A professor I had once told me to make sure to patent things like software source code and ideas when presenting something complex and potentially worth money because the theft of intellectual
property comes in many forms for many reasons. The âprogrammed inequalityâ is alarming and sad because it clouds the truth but what is done is done, all we can do is try to be more responsible and not take unnecessary risks when it comes to credit and intellectual property. A minor inconvenience like
getting a few patents and drawing up some legal agreements can save developers and innovators
from a world of trouble.
Marie Hicks is a historian of technology, gender and modern Europe. Hicks is currently a professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology. She is well known for her writing, âProgrammed Inequalityâ where she shares her perspective on the sexism that exist in our technologically advanced society and its gender (male vs. female)f impact and influence. the technology programming world between men and women. It is very unfortunate that in the world women are still not seen equally as men. In fact men are considered smarter than women, especially in engineering fields. Even Though women are in fact quite brilliant in the math and engineering department but because of past events, the stereotype of women being lesser than men. Big name companies and industries believe that women are intellectually incapable of programming and or coding for technology which is why are is a higher percentage of male engineers than females. Also male engineers get paid and hired over females. Even Though most S.T.E.M institutions motivate and acquire female students who have interest in the engineering department, some believe this is because of the male and female equal rights movement/controversy. As mentioned in her writing, Ms. Hicks uses the role of females in Great britain during WW2 and how even though they were successful and brilliant in technological/computer work, they were turned down and looked down upon after the men returned home from the war. The females position in the technological world was given back to men and gave them the stereotypical career image.
Marie Hicks is a historian of technology and her work focused on the history of women in computing.The issue indicated in the book âProgrammed Inequalityâ by Marie Hicks has been discussed in a couple of our previous class lectures as well as it is debatable in different parts of the world. This issue of how women are less participated in Computer programs due to the fact that many people see women as less smart than men when it comes to computers. Weâve discussed how many men are more involved in such a program. This book mentioned about systematic sidelining; which argued how women were a part of the role played in computing industry. Nevertheless, women didnât get the credit for such an act. The fact that you were a man helped you alot in order to be promoted because women back then got were demoted regardless if they were smarter than those men but that society just looked at men as more intelligent in these computings. It got harder for women to get involved in these programming within days. This left them to question who deserved the credit for the growth of industry and who also deserves to be in the programming. Personally speaking, I believe that the impact of women getting excluded back then is still having its influence in todayâs modern society; since there are more men involved in computing than women due to how previous societies used to believe. I think women are just as smart as men and all they need is faith and opportunities.
Marie Hicks is a historian of technology and her work focused on the history of women in computing.The issue indicated in the book âProgrammed Inequalityâ by Marie Hicks has been discussed in a couple of our previous class lectures as well as it is debatable in different parts of the world. This issue of how women are less participated in Computer programs due to the fact that many people see women as less smart than men when it comes to computers. Weâve discussed how many men are more involved in such a program. This book mentioned about systematic sidelining; which argued how women were a part of the role played in computing industry. Nevertheless, women didnât get the credit for such an act. The fact that you were a man helped you alot in order to be promoted because women back then got were demoted regardless if they were smarter than those men but that society just looked at men as more intelligent in these computings. It got harder for women to get involved in these programming within days. This left them to question who deserved the credit for the growth of industry and who also deserves to be in the programming. Personally speaking, I believe that the impact of women getting excluded back then is still having its influence in todayâs modern society; since there are more men involved in computing than women due to how previous societies used to believe. I think women are just as smart as men and all they need is faith and opportunities.
Marie Hicksâ Programmed Inequality, focuses on gender labor roles and technology, technologies and power. She argues that women who had roles throughout the British computing industry were systematically sidelined, pushed out and excluded from the industry as it evolved. As a result of the exclusion, Britain lost its worldwide lead in computing technology. Hicks informs us that, â The British case shows how new technologies often help certain classes consolidate power while stripping power from otherâ. She Stresses how the stripping of women input into the technologies can lead to technologies being made and directed to men, skewed to one end of the gender spectrum.
In her speech “Structural Inequality and Consequence,” Marie Hicks discussed the extensive lengths that woman have to go through to gain the recognition they deserve. Not only does she speak about the disparity of woman workers in the STEM field, but also the disparity of colored woman workers. Her work “Programmed Inequality” reveals British history of women of computing with inequalities affects among the age of second World War. She mentioned in the past different mistakes are being made, those mistakes have been repeatedly made. Marie Hicks not only brings up the great point of discrimination against colored woman, but the point that this NEEDS to stop, and will not unless we all conform to the idea of resistance. Although women have proven to be just as qualified as men, the product assumptions are predetermined creating a structural discrimination impact. There were examples Hicks included where women used a male alias instead of their own names. This allowed women to be employed while doing work deemed for solely men.