The Digital Divide

 “Specialist in women and other diseases.”

-Sign on the office door of a Romanian doctor

A common joke online lists the alternatives for deciding whether computers are male or female. 

Computers are female because no one but their creator understands their internal logic, the language they use to communicate with each other is incomprehensible to everyone else, even the smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for possible later review, and as soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending on accessories.

            On the other hand, computers are male because in order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on, they have a lot of data but still cannot think for themselves, they are supposed to help you solve problems but half the time they are the problem, and as soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.  

One good thing about techumor is that it invites equal opportunity sexism.  Yet in the world and in the world of the Gizmos, the equality is not so equal.

Certainly we notice gender differences in the world.  Like the classic fact that men look at their nails by making a fist while women extend their fingers.  There are a few other differences too, of course, and certainly these differences carry over into the Gizmos as well.  For instance, men on blogs tend to provide answers to questions, women tend to share their feelings; men search for answers online, women tend to search for people who can provide them.  These differences are often incomprehensible on the other side of the digital divide…like chips passing in the night.

But differences are not the only issue.

Look deeper into our relationship with technology and you find gender bias like the unsaid said that men are better at tech, think more like machines, and tend to not let their emotions get in the way.  The simple fact that there are more men than women actually building the Gizmos  – as programmers, engineers, designers – almost guarantees that a bias will be built in.  It is the same dynamic that insures that there will never enough public toilets for women and too many games that involve blasting the hell out of something.

In fact, in the history of invention we know the names of Bell and Edison and Fulton and Watt but not a hint of Lillian Gilbreth, Margaret Knight, or Beatrice Hicks.  Or the thousands of other clever women who slipped through the net of history because it has been so often woven by men.  Take the case of Beulah Louise Henry – who I am sure you have never heard of – as just one example.

            Born to a distinguished North Carolina family, she began inventing as a small child, sketching mechanical gadgets and getting her first patent for an ice cream freezer with a unique vacuum seal that she had invented at the age of 25.

            By 1924 she had patents for an umbrella with detachable, snap-on covers of various colors that was so successful it generated enough money for her to start her own business.  Unlike many of her manly counterparts though, Henry was not only inventive but also market savvy.  By 1930 she had sold 40 of her inventions to large corporations.

            Like Edison she built a large laboratory with a staff of mechanics and model-makers to realize her ideas.  And though she had no technical training, she amazed scientists and patent officials with the number, variety, and sophistication of her work.  Her 110 inventions and 49 patents included a telephone index that attached to the phone, a collapsible electric fan shield for traveling, a rubber reducing garment, a machine for automatically fastening snap fasteners on clothing, a “Kiddie Klock” for teaching time, an educational game about railroads, “Dolly Dips” soaps for children with their own sponges, a duplicating attachment for typewriters, action dolls, a bobbinless sewing machine and much more.

            If you see the focus here you can probably guess the reason for her relative anonymity.  She was an inventor of everyday items for real folks, for ordinary life, and mostly for women and their families.  Before the Industrial Revolution, women typically lived to the age of 40, spent the entire day on domestic chores, were continually pregnant, and – according to marriage records – were largely illiterate.  Beulah Henry was responding to – and aiding and abetting – the changing role of women in our culture.

            Not quite as – well…manly – for want of a better word, as steam engines and weapons but far more useful and closer to home.  We should know her name as well as we know Edison’s.  The Lady Henry, as she was called, stood for gizmotics at its best.  Technology without gaps.  She should be required study for girls as the future unfolds.

            Boys too.