Items related to Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women...
Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing (History of Computing) - Hardcover
Synopsis
In 1944, Britain led the world in electronic computing. By 1974, the British computer industry was all but extinct. What happened in the intervening thirty years holds lessons for all postindustrial superpowers. As Britain struggled to use technology to retain its global power, the nation's inability to manage its technical labor force hobbled its transition into the information age.
In Programmed Inequality, Marie Hicks explores the story of labor feminization and gendered technocracy that undercut British efforts to computerize. That failure sprang from the government's systematic neglect of its largest trained technical workforce, simply because they were women. Women were a hidden engine of growth in high technology from World War II to the 1960s. As computing experienced a gender flip, becoming male-identified in the 1960s and 1970s, labor problems grew into structural ones and gender discrimination caused the nation's largest computer user -- the civil service and sprawling public sector -- to make decisions that were disastrous for the British computer industry and the nation as a whole.
Drawing on recently opened government files, personal interviews, and the archives of major British computer companies, Programmed Inequality takes aim at the fiction of technological meritocracy. Hicks explains why, even today, possessing technical skill is not enough to ensure that women will rise to the top in science and technology fields. Programmed Inequality shows how the disappearance of women from the field had grave macroeconomic consequences for Britain, and why the United States risks repeating those errors in the twenty-first century.
Cover Photo: Cathy Gillespie performs the initial program load on an IBM computer at the British Central Electricity Generating Board, c. 1970. Photo courtesy of Cathy Gillespie.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Marie Hicks is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Search results for Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women...
Seller Image
Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing (History of Computing)
Seller: Goodwill of Colorado, COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: acceptable. This item is in overall acceptable condition. Covers and dust jackets are intact but may have heavy wear including creases, bends, edge wear, curled corners or minor tears as well as stickers or sticker-residue. Pages are intact but may have minor curls, bends or moderate to considerable highlighting writing. Binding is intact; however, spine may have heavy wear. Digital codes may not be included and have not been tested to be redeemable and or active. A well-read copy overall. Please note that all items are donated goods and are in used condition. Orders shipped Monday through Friday! Your purchase helps put people to work and learn life skills to reach their full potential. Orders shipped Monday through Friday. Your purchase helps put people to work and learn life skills to reach their full potential. Thank you! Seller Inventory # 466h6j0001IE
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Programmed Inequality : How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing
Published by
MIT Press, 2017
ISBN 10: 0262035545
ISBN 13: 9780262035545
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Better World Books: West, Reno, NV, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects. Seller Inventory # 13569676-6
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing (History of Computing)
Seller: Toscana Books, AUSTIN, TX, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: new. Excellent Condition.Excels in customer satisfaction, prompt replies, and quality checks. Seller Inventory # Scanned0262035545
Quantity: 1 available