Teaching with gender perspective oriented to the training of women students of interactive design and interactive technologies

Abstract

There’s needed of studies for teaching with gender perspective oriented to train women students of Interactive Technologies and Interactive Design, whom will have the task of developing easy-to-use, useful and pertinent systems, considering transition towards a more social design, characterized by giving people voice, centering results of design processes in users; thinking about action’s sustainable consequences, or focusing on services, rather than products. At present, society is characterized by marked economic, social and gender differences, visible in the phenomenon known as digital divide, in which same opportunities for access and use of digital technologies do not exist for all individuals. Economic and geographical access obstacles, as well as difficulties of using new technologies are widening the digital divide between people; differentiating between those who may or may not acquire a series of products or services, between the countries that develop technology and the countries that adopt it, as well as between men and women who use technologies; that is to say between “what some do and others cannot do”. Women have been lagged respect to men in the digital domain. These differences have been built from multiple social factors, giving cultural, social and gender legitimacy. Despite equal access to Information Technologies, skills valuation between genders is distinctive, remaining masculine the imaginary representations about computer expert. Visualizing scenarios for a gender education, which social self-concept and self-image of women develop positively, promoting benefiting experiences to students that develop products designed by women, by making efforts to prevent digital divide by gender.