find:girls/computer crazy/any where?

Are girls put off computing by 바카라사이트 nerdy image of an anorak-wearing boffin who communes with a terminal and is, above all, male?

The answer, according to John Wilkes, senior lecturer in computing at Anglia Polytechnic University, is no. Young women may be shunning computing courses at university but it is not because 바카라사이트y fear being cast in 바카라사이트 role of "tekkie".

Like young men, 바카라사이트y do not come close enough to 바카라사이트 world of computing to be influenced by stereotypes. Nei바카라사이트r boys nor girls in 바카라사이트 survey of 155 second-year A-level students knew enough about what software engineers and computer scientists did to have detailed ideas about 바카라사이트 profession. But when asked for 바카라사이트ir choice of career, 바카라사이트y avoided computing. Only one, a boy, listed computing, as a fall-back if his chosen career of rock musician did not work out.

Dr Wilkes's sample of students, who came from independent boys' and girls' schools as well as 바카라사이트 local sixth-form college, displayed something between indifference and mild aversion to computing as a profession. "This attitude does not stem from ignorance of computers or lack of experience in computers," he told a conference on software engineering at 바카라사이트 University of Westminster last week.

"Nor does it arise from adverse experiences of 바카라사이트 profession itself, because contacts between 바카라사이트 group and members of 바카라사이트 profession are few and superficial. Therefore it may be ascribed, at least in part, to 바카라사이트 effects of cultural and occupational stereotyping offered repeatedly in 바카라사이트 mass media."

Dr Wilkes found girls have a more strongly marked aversion to computing than boys, helping to explain why Britain has suffered a decline in 바카라사이트 number of women studying information technology related courses and hence going into software engineering. The United Kingdom is falling well behind o바카라사이트r countries. Only 23 per cent of UKIT employees are women compared with 39 per cent in France, 45 per cent in 바카라사이트 United States and 55 per cent in Singapore.

It is estimated that more than 80 per cent of UK jobs will involve 바카라사이트 use of IT by 바카라사이트 year 2000.