Communications of the ACM
Social Change: Women, Networks, and Technology
Credit: she-conomy.com
In 2009, only 11.8 percent of computer science bachelor's degrees were awarded to women, but that could change as more women embrace social media and social networking. Women, particularly older women, are some of the fastest growing groups in many social networks. The surge in women's participation in content creation in the social media space is interesting not just for its cultural implications, but also for what it means from a professional perspective, especially when considering young girls and women. Social media involvement could lead to the acquisition of critical coding and programming skills young girls need in their technical careers.
According to surveys and statistics, girls possess superior communication skills, whether it is in-person communication, cell phone use, instant messaging or journal writing. As a result, girls think of social media as simply new tools for broadcasting and publishing. In the social media space, girls are extremely active on blogs and in social networks. For example, 66 percent of girls have a social networking profile compared with 50 percent of boys, and 34 percent percent of girls keep an online journal or blog, compared with 20 percent of boys. Teenage girls have embraced the Internet and transferred these skills to social media at a time when the technology itself is going through radical changes. In fact, the convergence of the social Web with open-source development has enabled an entire generation of girls to make the leap from content creation to coding.
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