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Title of Abstract : ADDRESSING TECHNICAL EDUCATION ISSUES FROM A GENDER PERSPECTIVEName
and Address : Dr.(Mrs.)Babita Tewari , M.A.(Sociology), Ph.D 125 - B , Shyam Nagar , Kanpur - 208013 ( INDIA )Preamble: Women and girls often perceive the subject of
technology education as a male domain. Yet, women are technologists. Every women has been a
technological being, using and often inventing tools, materials and processes in order to adapt and modify her world. Their contributions have been either focused on the traditional homemaking roles of the females, or they have diminished in the records of industrial and economic spheres. Are there differences between men and women which might influence their choice of study and which needs to be addressed ? Can technology educators begin to address the lack of participation of women and girls in technology education without understanding the potential for differences between men and women with regards to technology and to education ? I want to explore these questions by discussing theories of science and technology and of women's ways of knowing in order to bring cultural feminists concerns to the attention of technology educators. Objectives : The dominant culture in almost all the leading societies of the world is the male culture, not by size but by influence. Evidence of this exists in the role which women take on in relation to men, the value of traditional female roles in economic theory which historically has not factored in the contributions of women in the home, the inability of politicians and citizens to successfully support an equal rights and status for women amendment in the Constitution etc. These and many other indications of the subjugation of female in hierarchy of value are explicitly evident and it is this very objectivity which needs to be addressed. The main two thrusts that are objective and indubitable about women's technological educational environment are about discussing the masculine bias as outlined above and arguing for a different, feminist influence in science/technology. .....................................2* 2 *Methods : How women use technology ? While in pursuit for finding a solution for the women's apt involvement in the ways for improving the technological educational environment for herself, we will have to study the aspect of Science, Technology and Gender ; incorporate the Feminist Theories ; using design briefs as cooperative activities (When technology teachers create activities such as design briefs, then some knowledge and empathy with women's ways of knowing and acting could help them to create design briefs that might be of interests to girls and women. Not everyone wants to design a machine tool. Some women do, yes, but others may be more interested in designing a device to help a handicap, a decorative item, toy, or other object that would require the same knowledge and skills as designing a machine tool.) The ideal methodology would be to identify the concept, processes and skills, which need to be taught and to cast them into a design brief which should allow each women to interpret the solution as she sees fit and to find ways for improving her technological know how. Findings : While women's participation has been changing the way in which science is conceptualized and conducted, there has been a question and concern for eliminating the inherent gender bias in science. The findings of many feminists have shown that if women do think and learn differently than men, then we need to address those differences in education, especially in the context of technology education, where there is a severe lack of women. It could be that the technology educators have not examined the women's thinking in order to learn how to be more inclusive in both technology education and creating technology. Patriarchy has been largely responsible for techno-logical abuses of nature and it is suggestive to athese issues by using feminist, racial, and class theories for giving a voice to the concerns of not only women, but other unrepresented groups in the context of what is taught as technology education.Conclusion : Teaching technology education in order to incorporate women's ways of knowing and experiencing is not a revolutionary educational idea. It is the technological educators roles in the society, as facilitators of the educational growth, to keep up with the societal change. In thinking about how the technology educators might do these things in order to transform their own practice, we have to start from a base of knowledge. The technological educators need to study the feminist texts related to science and technology and to apply these pragmatically. From the telephone to e-mail, as women have encountered communication technologies, they have been quick to utilize them to maintain contact with other people, displaying characteristic women's ways of knowing such as having a need for context and explanation. In recent research about gender differences with respect to technology, it has been found that women identified communication and medical technologies more frequently than men. The technology educators need to understand that women's value will enter into their valuing and use of technology and that women will always find ways of using technology for their own priorities, just as any one should.