Toxic Masculinity in Technology
Within schools and education there are going to be subjects that are believed to appeal to men more than women and vice versa, in this case it will be within computing and in technological areas.
Computing is seen as a predominantly male heavy subject, while yes there are successful females in the industry it doesn’t change the fact that “only 19% of computer science related degrees were female, with a staggering 81% of students being male” (STEM Women, 2020). This makes it one of the most male dominated subjects out there, both within education and in the real world, this is only matched by 1 other subject, that being Engineering and Technology, However these statistics are from the years 2017 – 2018 meaning that it is possible that one of these subjects now has a somewhat larger female crowd attached to it.
It is currently estimated that less than 24% of white, British boys from working-class backgrounds leave school with five GCSEs at grade C or above.” (Mackay F, 2017) he also went on to say “boys being excluded and left behind in our schools is not new”. A large portion of power globally belongs to men, men that have been successful in what they have done however if we look at these quotes it is clear to see that many schools and institutions care more for the students that get the top grades, so the students that tend to be 'below average' also get a below average learning experience which makes them feel far from powerful which brings around another sort of toxic mindset. If the students start to feel unwanted and like they are worth less then its only normal if the students become more cynical and begin to see things in a different sort of perspective, whereas the students that are believed to be at the “top” will have a toxic mindset that is different to those other students that don’t get the attention that is probably required, as they will begin to think they run and own the world because they are successful in Maths, English or other core subjects.
Videos:
Responding to Toxic Masculinity
How did Computing become Male-Dominated - Language Warning
Female engineer shares experience in the field
Resources:
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