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Century, Technology Has Revolutionized Life and Work in Industrialized Countries

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Century, Technology Has Revolutionized Life and Work in Industrialized Countries 1 CHAPTER I OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY In the last half of the 20th century, technology has revolutionized life and work in industrialized countries. Schools, community agencies, workplaces, learning institutions, and the marketplace have been incorporating the use of technology in the form of the personal computer (PC). The growing uses of PCs have changed how people work, communicate, and function within society and within their families. PCs have also increased individuals’ access to information, have given users new ways to store, organize and produce data, and have made it possible for users to shop, conduct business, and access entertainment on a daily basis. Few places exist in the United States where information and computer technology (IT) has not played a major role. Young people as early as age five have been trained to use computer technology. Senior citizens have also participated in computer technology classes in senior centers, local schools, and training institutions. Eberts and Gisler (1993) reminded us how in 1982, Time magazine named the computer the “Man of the Year” and proclaimed that the computer would “continue to make waves in the job market in the twenty-first century” (p. 115). Now the year 2000 has arrived and the prediction of Time magazine has come true, the computer has not only made significant waves, but also created a tsunami in the field of IT. This “sea change” (Steingraber, 1996) has also created vast deserts of needed workers and over- representation in the computer world for the “men of the years” since the revolution began (Brosnan, 1998, Melamed, 1996). Technology and Need for IT Trained Male and Female Workers Steingraber (1996) chronicled the change in computer technology by noting the changes computers have made in education, medicine, materials, and the entire marketplace, and listed 2 the following as examples: (a) Interactive media products such as CD ROMS and video game software, which reshaped education, communication, and entertainment; (b) Interactive and on-line newspapers and journals, which are on the Internet and have changed the way information is accessed; (c) The joining of forces of entire industries to create vast media, business and entertainment corporations to meet the needs of all consumers; (d) Information-related industries, which are united into a single market that enables any information to be available in any form to anyone, anywhere, and at any time; and (e) Technology convergence, which has produced the creation of a virtual world allowing companies to sell products in cyberspace without buildings, documents or money, as well as to design new products, such as the Boeing 777 airplane, which was designed completely on the computer in a virtual world (p. 2). Dixon (1997) described this new tomorrow as the “genie out of the bottle” in terms of the massive database processes and sophisticated shareware now available and in use (p. 6). Hutchins (1998) too, reminded us that computers are everywhere, “omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent and basically they are all around us, like HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey, they are taking over” (p. 18). As we move to a computer-driven society, Muhammad (1996) pointed out how imperative it was to stay abreast of the technological advancements to best prepare for the demands of the future job market. Despite the growing importance of IT, the number of young people choosing to study in this field has been small in number compared to the number of jobs available (Brown, 1999; Lord, 1995; Melamed, 1996; O’Malley, 1997; Prickett, 1998). Freeman and Aspray (1999) reported that since 1986 the number of bachelor’s degrees in computer science 3 had declined by 40%. They also noted that a Department of Commerce Report projected that between 1994 and 2005, the number of IT jobs in the United States would increase annually by 95,000 per year. Additionally, Muhammad (1996) noted that the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted that by the year 2005, the number of jobs in computer-related fields would grow by 90%, and that there will be no occupation untouched by this ongoing technological revolution. With these tremendous changes, the question that comes to mind is will there be an adequate supply of trained workers to fill these jobs. In Florida, Luis Rojas, Chairman of the Florida House Telecommunications and Utilities Committee, reported that there was a shortage of adequately trained workers throughout the high-tech field. Rojas (1999) said that “for high-technology industries, education really does matter a great deal” and he recommended an educational plan that would support K-12 technology training as well as “undergraduate and Ph.D. level studies aimed at cutting edge high- tech applications and theory” (p. 5L). The shortage of adequately trained IT workers was related directly to the preparation pipeline and training patterns of young people according to Freeman and Aspray (1999). In the recent Department of Commerce Report, ‘America’s New Deficit: The Shortage of Information Technology Workers,’ 1997, Fall issue, Freeman and Aspray noted that “only 25,000 bachelor’s degrees in computer science are produced annually in the United States. These numbers have been steadily decreasing from a high of 42,000 in 1986” (p. 17). Although the number of computer science degrees have been decreasing over the years, more males than females appear to be more interested in the field of IT. Davidson (1999) reported that the shortage of IT workers and unfilled IT jobs in the United States was 350,000. He also said that since there were not enough IT workers to fill these jobs in the United States, a computer programming provider company, Indusa, was currently 4 training workers in Jamaica to be computer programmers. At the Caribbean Institute of Technology (CIT), Indusa hoped to train 2,000 programmers in the next decade to help fill some of these computer technology needs, and other companies have been going to India, the Philippines, and South Africa to get or train new computer technology workers. Davidson projected that since the U.S. overseas market has swelled by 400% for the past two years, it could reach at least three million by 2001, bringing in more foreign nationals to fill the technical jobs needed here in the United States. The need for IT training has touched every facet of the business and communication world. Freeman and Aspray (1999) assigned a broad classification to IT workers, which included: Office Systems (OS) Developers, Technology Call Consultants, Network Installers, System Administrators, Software (SW) project Managers, Chief Technology Officers, Applications Developers, Entrepreneurs, and Chief Information Officers; and IT-Enabled Workers as: Bank Tellers, Accountants, Business Project Managers, Product Developers, Marketing Vice-Presidents, and Chief Financial Officers. Noting other factors in this shortage, Melamed (1996) pointed out that the most prosperous industries in the United States were male-dominated, while women congregated in service industries such as social welfare and education. Since IT has become a major business and career area of interest and employment for young people, there has been a large difference both in the number of women in IT and the promotions of women managers in the field (Brosnan, 1999; Flowers, 1998; Freeman & Aspray, 1998, Harrington, 1990; Melamed, 1996). Women and IT Throughout the history of this country, the roles, education, and programs both for women and for technology have changed dramatically. At the beginning of the 20th century the 5 role of women in society and the workforce seemed clear and unquestionable. Women were to be homemakers and mothers and their work was centered on the family. The few women who ventured into the workforce were thought to be unusual and even eccentric. Education, religion, and politics usually excluded women. It was not until the end of the second decade of the 20th century that women had the right to vote. Universal education for women in the United States did not become a reality until late in this century. This historical background has set the stage for women to be in the background of work, technology, and learning. Because many careers tended to exclude women, laws were passed to ensure gender equity in the United States. The Vocational Education Amendments of 1976 mandated gender equity in vocational education. The Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act of 1984 provided increased funding for marketable skills and support services, as well as programs to eliminate gender bias and stereotyping in vocational education. Additional funds were provided in the Carl Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act of 1990. Finally, on the state level, The Virginia Department of Education’s Vocational Gender Equity Office gave technical assistance to educational institutions for gender equity projects (“Vocational Gender,” 1995). These important pieces of legislation were meant to help young women gain the education and training to enable them to enter any career. However, this equal access has not always been achieved. Issacson and Brown (1997) reported that a number of factors have influenced women’s career paths. They cited Keer’s (1983) findings that women “have had lower career aspirations than men….a more restricted ranged of careers….and tended to put family concerns before career issues” (p. 390). Women’s perceptions that they had lower abilities than men, despite the high grades they earned in school subjects, especially in math and science, were emphasized by Silver-Miller 6 (1992). Gysbers et al. (1998) indicated that women not only had lower career aspirations, but low expectations for success and lower self-efficacy beliefs about non-traditional careers. These stereotypic attitudes seemed to have placed women at a disadvantage, and this lack of confidence may have hindered them from following more non-traditional career paths.
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