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The pessimistic scenario for ‘women in information communications technology’ and for ‘women in technology’ generally is even more paradoxical and insidious with respect to ‘women in computing’. Studies within this field not only report insignificant improvement in the proportion of women in Western countries’ computing fields but also alert us of a declining trend. Moreover, that decline has been accompanied – or even preceded – by years of research and programs that have specifically focused on increasing women’s participation in computing; however, they have not had the expected effect. More surprisingly, there has been a significant increase in the representation of women in all other science-related fields and professions. Our aim is to provide some clues to fight the feeling of inexorability that may be entailed by the research on women in computing. We will argue that part of the problem is related to the static nature of the research deployed around the problem of ‘women in computing’, primarily, the research constructed around the ‘leaky pipeline’ metaphor. We provide a synthesis of the critiques this research has received in recent decades and highlight research trends that render other landscapes visible when studying ‘women in computing’. These trends help us question how we are conducting research within this field and urge us to problematise assumptions about computing and gender that we may paradoxically continue to reproduce even while denouncing the paucity of women in computing and studying the reasons for this state of affairs. In short, we present the need for different researchers’ eyes that allow different landscapes of women and computing to be seen and produced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an exploration of intimate expectations, ideals, and male freeters' romantic relationships, this article examines the ways in which expectations and practices of intimacy are shifting in gendered ways in contemporary Japan. Whilst women's expectations of intimacy and marital roles have changed and expanded, many male irregular workers continue to practice more conventional ideals of intimacy and gender roles, rooted in notions of responsibility, obligation, and duty. This article argues that there is consequently a significant miscommunication between male and female desires relating to the practice of intimacy that is contributing to both a perceived difficulty in getting married, and, after marriage, considerable stress about what is constitutive of intimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The main purpose of this study is to investigate gender differences in leadership styles and in organizational outcome variables, together with the influence of organizational/contextual variables on leadership styles in female and male participants in Spain. The sample comprised 226 participants (35 leaders and 191 subordinates) belonging to 35 work teams. The general findings show that only 2 of the 10 tested leadership styles are different for female and male leaders. Specifically, subordinates rate female leaders as more autocratic and negotiating than men, and this evaluation varies according to the subordinates' sex. We also found that some differences in the rating of female and male leaders depend on whether the organization is stereotypically feminine or masculine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study aims to gain in-depth understanding on whether and how asynchronous computer mediated communication (CMC), exemplified by advice giving in web-based discussion forums, is instrumental in the construction of gender identities and can thus be taken to reflect gendered discursive practices. While there is a growing body of literature on this topic, this paper extends the discussion into a less explored issue in the area of gender and advice, namely, the potential effect that the sex of the recipient may have on the linguistic structure of the message. Unlike advice-givers, advice-seekers unambiguously reveal their sex in their posts, while typically omitting other personal information or identifying features. Sex is thus the only identifiable variable. This study therefore examined how men and women are given advice – not just on how they produce advice – in terms of directness, politeness considerations and affect display. The picture that emerges is complex and points to potential changing discursive practices and gender role expectations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Contextual variations in mother-child and father-child verbal communication were examined among 80 U.S. families from Kansas who were predominately Caucasian (85%) and middle-class. There were 41 girls and 39 boys between 15- and 18-months-old observed with their mothers and fathers in separate play and caregiving laboratory situations. Parent and child behaviors were coded for verbal initiation and response strategies. MANOVA’s revealed more differences between mother’s and father’s verbal communication strategies in the play context than the caregiving context. Boy’s and girl’s verbal communication was relatively similar across contexts. The interactions between gender and context are discussed in relation to gender role development in the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the role of character gender in prime time television health portrayals. A content analysis of 1,291 health-related storylines from three spring seasons (2004–2006) of the ten most popular American television programs measured the frequency of male and female characters in prominent roles and how storylines differed with the sex of the ill or injured character. Our analyses revealed a significantly greater number of male characters. Moreover, storylines with a male ill or injured character were more serious in tone, more likely to take place in a medical setting, and had higher educational value. Proportionally, there were some similarities in storylines across the sexes, however, the absolute differences are striking and may have unfortunate effects on viewers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The Phenomenology says that every knowledge is a perspective knowledge, because every knowledge is situated in a time and in a space. The human's embodiment discloses a perspective overview on the world. The paper claims the aim to analyze how the sexual and gender dimensions, which are incarnated in a determinate body, are present in the qualitative research, specifically into the ethnographic observation. First for all, we hypothesize that the gender is a border for the access into a field and not in other, so to be man or woman is not neutral for the knowledge of a specific social context. Moreover, the performative dimension of the gender, which shows the norms that pre-exist and that conduct the role's interaction (i.e. the role's gendered content and the role's gendered language) is another tie in the participant observation. The awareness that all the knowledge is gendered, requires to the fieldworker to play a double competence (ability). The researcher must use the self reflexivity to point out his gender identity and his background on this theme: he must point out his background frame relatively to the gender, his gender behaviour's expectations in the interaction, and his correlated opinions. The researcher, moreover, must know that exist a cultural mainstream about the gender, but that the concrete gender playing is based on the interaction in a concrete frame. So, we have a lot of concrete ways in which the gender is embodied. The researcher on the field, so, must enter in a knowledge's circulation in which must point attention to: the epistemic interdependence, iie. the knowledge borns in the symbolic interaction between the researcher and the subject; the gendered nature of the communicative interaction between the researcher and the subject; the negotiable nature of the concrete managing of the gendered role in the interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a driving force for change in late modern society, individualisation enables women to enjoy equal opportunities as men in many respects, such as the access to higher education and the labour market. This paper is an introduction of my current PhD project, which attempts to explore the gender equality issue among young generation of Chinese. I will give a critical examination of the feminist methodology I am going to employ in this research, and I hope that later it could be open to more diverse audience for further discussion of this research project. I will start with the background of women's equal opportunity to access higher education globally. Then I briefly review the social and cultural transformation experienced in contemporary Chinese society and the post-80 generation of Chinese young people. In order to explore the gender role in contemporary China, I will carry out a case study at universities in two urban Chinese cities Beijing and Shanghai. Through the in-depth interviews and participant observation, I will try to obtain educated young women's perceptions on their gender identities in modern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using latent semantic analysis, we examined gender stereotypes in American English by submitting over 100 masculine, neutral, and feminine role-words and trait-words to pair-wise semantic similarity comparisons with masculine ( man, he, him) and feminine ( woman, she, her) referents separately. We expected to find: (a) Stereotyping—roles and traits would be more semantically similar to the ostensible ‘matching’ than ‘mismatching’ gender category referent; (b) Categorical narrowness—both categories would be less semantically similar to counterstereotypical than to neutral or stereotypical characteristics; but this would be especially so for the male category , indicating its relatively greater narrowness. Results supported these hypotheses, but only among role-words. American English reflects and reinforces gender stereotypes regarding gender roles at a level beyond that recognized previously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article enquires into the connections between gender and discourses of the nuclear weapons state. Specifically, we develop an analysis of the ways in which gender operates in the White Paper published by the UK government in 2006 on its plans to renew Trident nuclear weapons (given the go-ahead by the Westminster Parliament in March 2007). We argue that the White Paper mobilizes masculine-coded language and symbols in several ways: firstly, in its mobilization of techno-strategic rationality and axioms; secondly, in its assumptions about security; and, thirdly, in its assumptions about the state as actor. Taken together, these function to construct a masculinized identity for the British nuclear state as a “responsible steward.” However, this identity is one that is not yet securely fixed and that, indeed, contains serious internal tensions that opponents of Trident (and of the nuclear state more generally) should be able to exploit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examined whether the Power Interaction Model is applicable for explaining the choice of power tactics in conflict situations among Israeli married couples. In addition, gender role ideology was tested as a moderator of the relationship between power usage and marital satisfaction. Seventy-eight couples reported on self usage and spouse’s usage of power tactic behaviors during conflicts and completed questionnaires assessing marital satisfaction, gender role ideology (traditional, liberal) and demographics. Findings indicated greater agreement within couples for harsh rather than for soft tactic preference. As expected, preference for harsh tactics was associated with lower marital satisfaction yet gender role ideology moderated this association. The role of conflict and power usage in traditional and liberal families was addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the hereby article is to analyse the process of communicating in the contemporary organisation with putting special stress on sex, as one of the leading determinants of its effectiveness. Among many factors that may influence the quality of team work, certainly effective communicating between people, in different constellation: superior-subordinate, employee - employee, goes to foreground. How it happens that in some organisations people communicate almost without words, cooperation is a pleasure, and in other companies they face constantly management system sicknesses - information infarction, information anemia or information distortion, which in consequence gives birth to chaos and conflicts. In hereby article the special attention was placed to the factor which seems to be priority - employees' sex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research on instructor nonverbal behaviors has focused on the effects of immediacy and dominance on cognitive learning, affective learning, and learners' perceptions of instructor. This study built on that research by removing the focus on immediacy and dominance behaviors; rather, the authors compiled a broad list of nonverbal behaviors representative of those instructors use in the classroom. Furthermore, student respondent gender and instructor gender were coded to determine their impact on findings. Key findings included few gender differences in the student responses; instead, the major difference occurred in the nonverbal behaviors students identified for male and female instructors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined if pre-intervention maternal gender role beliefs predict change in sexual communication in a sexual risk behavior prevention program designed to increase parent-pre-adolescent communication about sex. A sample of 281 African American fourth and fifth graders and their mothers participated in the five-session program and completed computerized questionnaires at baseline, postintervention, and 6-month follow-up. Based on mother report, more egalitarian maternal gender role beliefs predicted greater increases in parent-pre-adolescent communication about sex at postintervention. Based on pre-adolescent report, similar findings emerged at the 6-month follow-up, but only for boys. The relationship of maternal gender role beliefs to changes in sexual communication was not accounted for by maternal comfort with sexual communication with their pre-adolescents. The implications of maternal gender role beliefs in a prevention program designed to increase communication about sexual topics are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last years there has been an increase of gender studies, with the incorporation of women at academic world and as consecuence of a bigger social awareness. Even so, the analyses of this type, specially in communication, are not very usual. The object of this paper is to analyze gender construction and stereotypes in spanish fiction TV through two successful Spanish series, proposing a model of analyses that allows to recognize and to clasificate these representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research has reported that females use exclamation points more frequently than do males. Such research often characterizes exclamation points as “markers of excitability,” a term that suggests instability and emotional randomness, yet it has not necessarily examined the contexts in which exclamation points appeared for evidence of “excitability.” The present study uses a 16-category coding frame in a content analysis of 200 exclamations posted to two electronic discussion groups serving the library and information science profession. The results indicate that exclamation points rarely function as markers of excitability in these professional forums, but may function as markers of friendly interaction, a finding with implications for understanding gender styles in email and other forms of computer-mediated communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers who examine the relation of gender role attitudes to division of household labor and marital quality often overlook its relation to emotional spousal support. Moreover, research on gender and marriage often ignores how gender role attitudes may explain the link between spousal support and marital quality. Secondary data analyses on a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults examined the interaction of gender and gender role attitudes on spousal support and marital quality. Emotional spousal support predicted better marital satisfaction and less conflict for traditional women and egalitarian men, whereas both instrumental and emotional spousal support predicted better marital satisfaction for egalitarian women and traditional men. These results suggest that within, as well as between, gender differences are important for understanding the contribution of spousal support to perceived marital quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was first to explore the dimensionality of the ratings made for a successful middle manager using the Schein Descriptive Index (SDI) (Schein, ), and then to compare the ratings made for a successful middle manager, a women, and a man on the identified dimensions. Students ( N = 806) enrolled in psychology courses in a university in Ankara, Turkey rated the SDI adjectives to describe a woman, a man, or a successful middle manager. Three factors were identified that underlie the SDI adjectives for a successful middle manager: relationship-orientation, task-orientation, and emotional stability. Compared to men and middle managers in general, women were perceived by all participants to be relatively high in relationship-orientation, relatively low in task-orientation, and relatively low in emotional stability. Implications of the findings are discussed using role congruity theory as a general framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively synthesize the growing literature on the relationship between safer sexual communication (SSC) among sexual partners and condom use, and to systematically examine a number of conceptual and methodological moderators of this relationship. Data from 53 articles published in 27 journals met criteria for the study. Fifty-five independent effect sizes coded from samples totaling N = 18,529 were meta-analyzed. Results indicate that the mean sample-size weighted effect size of the SSC-condom use relation was r = .22, and a number of conceptual variables were found to moderate this relationship. Specifically, communication about condom use ( r = .25) and sexual history ( r = .23) had significantly ( p .05). Further, methodological moderators tended to be unrelated to effect size. Implications for the future study of safer sexual communication as well as the importance of emphasizing communication skills in HIV preventive interventions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented in which the author discusses the her experience of being defined by her gender in light of feminist theory and criticism by Judith Butler and Luce Irigaray. Topics include Irigaray's deconstruction of Plato's dialogue entitled "Timaeus," Lewis Carroll's book "Through the Looking Glass" and the protagonist Alice, and the politicization and gendered nature of language. Also discussed is the grounding of gender differences in materiality.

The article suggests four instructional units with a male/female communication segment that communication teachers can adopt to help students in learning to recognize the differences and erroneous stereotypes associated with sex roles. The first of the four units contains information related to sex-role development and the socialization process. The subjects of the remaining units, include communication differences, communication contexts and ways to manage male/female communication differences.

This is a content analysis of 31 randomly-selected children's television cartoons in Hong Kong, where all such programs are imported from foreign countries. No such programs are produced in Hong Kong. The study analyzes personality and appearance attributes of 277 cartoon characters. As expected, male characters outnumbered female characters by a ratio of 2:1; however, contrary to expectations, female characters enjoyed far greater representation in cartoons produced in Japan than they did in cartoons produced in the U.S. and Great Britain. On other measures, characters tended to conform to hypothesized gender-related stereotypes, with males being more aggressive, rough, sloppy, and strong, and females being more beautiful and feminine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the possible impact of stamps on children as well as adults, we investigated the gender relevant content of U.S. postage stamps of the twentieth century. Males clearly outnumbered females in stamp representations, and the roles portrayed for both men and women were significantly more often traditional than nontraditional. The majority of people-oriented stamps fell into the politics/military category. White males still outnumbered females even in 1990–91 stamps, the number of females portrayed has increased during recent years. Nontraditional, compared to traditional, representations on stamps has also slightly increased over the years for men; no comparable increase was found for women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The finding of significant preadult sex differences in politicization earlier by Owen and Dennis (1988) is explored further. Here, we examine the relationship between sex roles, mass media use, and preadult politicization. Using data from a study of 10-17 year olds in Wisconsin in the early 1980s, we discover significant sex differences in patterns of mass media use that favor boys. In addition, our analysis supports our speculation about a linkage between media use and politicization that is stronger for males than for females. Our findings recommend the need for further analysis in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identified women patrol officers utilizing four styles in relating to male officers: neutral-impersonal, semimasculine, feminine, and mixed. The role styles were helpful in understanding how women cope with conflicts generated by the demands of gender and occupational role. Patterns of emphasizing aspects of each role, of assigning priorities, and of coping techniques emerged around the different styles. The women did not express attachment to any one style in relations with those who were not male co-workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bern Sex-Role Inventory and the Communication-Conflict Instrument were administered to 182 husbands and wives. Results suggest that gender-role classification is a more significant discriminator of communication behavior than is biological sex. Androgynous spouses, more than feminine though not significantly more so than masculine spouses, reported themselves to be the most disposed to handle conflict constructively. On the subscales of the conflict instrument, androgynous persons had significantly more positive feelings scores than either masculine or feminine persons, plus higher task energy and desire-for-control scores than feminine persons. Similarly, masculine persons reported a significantly greater predisposition to manage conflict constructively than did feminine persons, having higher task energy and desire-for-control scores. Undifferentiated persons reported the lowest scores for conflict management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effects of sex of self and other on communication satisfaction. Respondents rated perceived satisfaction with a conversation they had just completed or one they recalled. Communication satisfaction was operationalized by a 60-item self-report instrument. Results indicated that a person's own gender does not influence the amount of communication satisfaction one experiences, and mixed sex dyads are slightly more satisfying for males and females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article permits the observation of informal, social interaction processes that operate in communication. In this experiment the effects of social interaction and sex differences call for reexamination and extension of the concepts of independence and saturation of communication networks. Independence and saturation appear to be interdependent rather than separate processes; their mutual dependence is revealed when social interaction variables are allowed to operate. The interaction between sex and experimental condition found in the study suggests the importance of congruence between preferred modes of interacting and the structural requirements of the communication situation. In the interaction of sex and condition, the differential responses made by males and females to the requirements of problem solving in a social a social milieu are revealed. The face-to-face condition enhanced the efficiency and satisfaction of males and impede the efficiency and satisfaction of females. If the female Ss were attending more to social interaction than to the task, the competing cues would result in less efficient performance. Alternately, sex role conflict might inhere in public achievement in a competitive situation and lead to poorer performance.