IRMA-International.org: Creator of Knowledge
Information Resources Management Association
Advancing the Concepts & Practices of Information Resources Management in Modern Organizations

Trouble in Computing: Taking “Positions” in the Discipline of Computing

Trouble in Computing: Taking “Positions” in the Discipline of Computing
View Free PDF
Author(s): Sheila French (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)
Copyright: 2007
Pages: 4
Source title: Managing Worldwide Operations and Communications with Information Technology
Source Editor(s): Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, D.B.A. (Information Resources Management Association, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-929-8.ch167
ISBN13: 9781599049298
EISBN13: 9781466665378

Abstract

This chapter explores the ‘identities’ and ‘positioning’ of female academics working in the disciplines of Computing and Information Technology (IT) in a number of British universities. Narrative enquiry and discourse analysis are used to offer a deeper understanding of the complex relationship surrounding technology and gender identity. I critically analyse how the women in the study ‘position’ themselves or come to be ‘positioned’ within complex and contradictory discourses. Here I discuss the implications and repercussions of taking the position of ‘feminist’ and ‘non feminist’. Those positioned as ‘feminists’ were perceived as a threat experiencing ‘trouble’ working in an organisational setting where masculine norms determine that technical skills and positivist research methods are held in high esteem. Conversely those who held the position of ‘non-feminist’ worked successfully within the dominant discourses in the discipline.

Body Bottom