Innovation Through Gender in Computing [EN]

INTeGER focuses on interrogating the role that gender intersectionality plays in producing innovation in the field of computing. Precisely because gender bias in computing has been identified as preventing innovation and socially responsible IT design (examples abound in research spanning from algorithms and machine learning, to speech recognition technologies), more interdisciplinary research that bridges gender studies, science and technology studies and computer science is needed.

The project is designed to develop along two directions (or a combination of both):

Innovations in computer science and its gendered aspects: what is the process of innovation in computing, what is understood as innovation in computing, and how this idea and process is affected by gender.
Gendered methodologies in computing: what are the methods and methodologies that are most prominent in computer sciences and how they interlink with intersectional notions of gender.

Contact: Nana Kesewaa Dankwa

Project Details

INTeGER Project Description - PDF 647,58 KB (öffnet neues Fenster)

User Case Study: Exploring the Technological Needs of Male Parents with Higher Child and Home Care Roles

Childcare is often gendered and socially constructed as a female role. Therefore males that take up these roles are often found in “for female conditioned environments” though parenting roles differ in respect to gender. For example, in Germany most diaper changing tables are found in the female washrooms or even the mobile app “mamikreisel” for selling used children’s cloths is tailored to the female market even as the name suggests. Males often find themselves struggling to fit into the female definition of childcare and struggle to find support tuned to their sex and gender needs in childcare and the home.

Today single fathers, stay at home dads and fathers on parental leave take on more parenting and home care tasks as fathers who are the primary providers of the home with spouses. Therefore the purpose of this study is to work with males in these above-mentioned situations to find innovative support for these child and home care roles using technology.