CONCLUSIONS


 

Morritt's research was very extensive and provided tremendous insight on female attitudes towards computer based technologies. What also made this study more meaningful was that a woman, who could identify with her subjects to some degree, conducted it - a critical component to Harding's theoretical framework. This was extremely important in providing an authentic feel for identifying the problems and finding possible solutions to improve women's attitudes toward computers.

If there is one message that could be taken from this study, it is that early childhood conditioning plays a significant role in determining how girls will embrace this medium, as women in the future. Access to computer based technologies at an early age, positive female role modes in the workforce and in advertisements were suggested methods for improving women's attitudes towards computer based technologies. Seeing more women using the medium more naturally and confidently, will help young girls to embrace computers, instead of fearing them.

While this study was very informative, it lacked a strong, concrete conclusion. Although these women were educated professionals who used computer based technologies, the research could have been more effective if the women were each from very different professions. It appeared that the majority of these women shared very similar, "stereotypical", nurturing qualities, that one may associate with women in the teaching profession; making the research findings somewhat predictable. One could assume that Morritt played it safe by using women within the education profession, in order to determine a particular outcome.

Unfortunately, this study failed to make any new breakthroughs about women's attitudes towards computers. It is already understood that women's attitudes have to change from an early age in order to understand a medium that is important to their future as women. However, it is reassuring to know that women are indeed on the right track to discovering the basis of their own attitudes. These conclusion reveal the common realities of women's experiences.

Perhaps if the study had been conducted with more diverse participants in terms of occupation, there could have been more unique findings. Those results would probably have provided newer insights for women in regards to understanding themselves with computer based technologies, on a larger scale.

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Nicole La Roche

Feminist Perspectives on Computer Based Technologies


Communication Studies Program, Social Science Division
York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3J 1P3