Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

INSIDE IOWA STATE
February 9, 2001

Survey reveals gender gap in computer use, interest

by Anne Krapfl
A national gender gap in computer confidence among college freshmen is mirrored at Iowa State, despite an indication from the university's incoming freshmen that they use computers more than college freshmen nationally.

And while female students are more likely than male students to turn to the Internet to do their homework or conduct research, they show less interest in computer careers and less confidence in their computer skills.

These trends were part of the annual survey of freshmen in American colleges and universities conducted by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at the University of California, Los Angeles. The first survey was done in fall 1966; Iowa State has participated since 1971.

Nationally, 78.5 percent of last fall's freshman class said they had used a personal computer in the last year. At Iowa State, that number was 84.6 percent, up from 75.4 percent a year ago. However, female students (at Iowa State and nationally) indicated less use of Internet chat rooms and computer and video games than their male counterparts. Female students used the Internet more often than their male colleagues for research or homework and for e-mail communication.

Female students showed less interest in careers as computer programmers or analysts than male students (1.3 percent compared to 10.5 percent on campus) and expressed less confidence in their computer skills than male students. According to survey officials at UCLA, the gender gap in computer confidence last fall is the largest in the history of the survey.

"In a workforce increasingly dependent on technological proficiency, women's relative lack of computing confidence is likely to place them at a disadvantage when it comes to the jobs they are willing to seek out," said Linda Sax, education professor at UCLA and director of the survey.

Computer usage	Males		Females
	U.S.	ISU	U.S.	ISU
Computer skills in top 10 percent or above average compared with peers	46.4	60.9	23.2	27.3
During the past year:
Frequently used a computer	79.5	86.6	77.8	82.0
Frequently used Web for homework, research	65.6	71.7	69.0	73.3
Frequently communicated via e-mail	62.1	69.6	68.5	75.7
Frequently participated in chat rooms	23.4	26.3	17.1	14.6
Spent 3+ hours/week playing computer games	35.4	37.0	9.6	7.0
Probable career as programmer or analyst	9.3	10.5	1.8	1.3

Source: ISU Office of Institutional Research

Academic expectations:	U.S.	ISU
Average H.S. grade: A+, A or A-	42.9	53.2
Average H.S. grade: C or lower	6.6	7.0
Believe will need remedial work/tutoring in math	24.3	6.3
Believe will need remedial work/tutoring in writing	10.8	3.1
Very good chance will have at least a "B" average in college	58.1	53.2
Expect to graduate from college with honors	20.7	16.6
Concerns about financing college:
None (confident will have sufficient funds)	36.3	31.6
Some (but probably will have enough funds)	51.6	59.1
Major (not sure I will have enough funds to finish college)	12.1	9.4
Objectives considered essential or very important:
Become an "authority" in my field	59.7	56.7
Obtain recognition from colleagues	51.2	50.2
Be well off financially	73.4	72.2
Help others who are in difficulty	61.7	50.1
Agree somewhat or strongly that:
Marijuana should be legalized	34.2	26.9
Death penalty should be abolished	31.2	28.6
It's important to have laws prohibiting homosexual relationships	27.2	30.7
Same-sex couples should have right to legal marital status	56.0	51.4

Source: ISU Office of Institutional Research