When Computers were Women: Inequality at Work in the Making of a New Technology

Speaker      :      Jennifer Light, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies and Sociology

                               Northwestern University

Time             :      Friday, April 20th, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm.

Location      :     Stuart Building Room # 238 (SB 238) 

   While in today's world, the computer programmer is more often than not a man,
programming was in its origins a feminized clerical occupation. This presentation
turns back to the dawn of computer programming during World War Two to share the
story of how computing went from a human occupation to a task done by a machine.
I describe the creation and gendering of the job of programmer. A key point is
that both computing and programming lay at the intersection of scientific and
clerical labor. Each required advanced mathematical training, yet each was
categorized as clerical work. This early classification gives us some insight into
why many accounts of computer history have not portrayed women as significant
actors. In my talk I will argue for a reappraisal of their contributions.