Feminist Design in Computing
Shaowen Bardzell, Jeffrey Bardzell · The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies · 2016
Feminist design in computing refers to IT design practices that are substantially informed by feminist thought and activism. It brings together research, design, and administrative initiatives, including feminist technology studies, women in computing, gender science and technology studies (STS), gender human–computer interaction (HCI), feminist HCI, and critical design. Its agendas include explaining and improving gender equality in relation to technology, both in terms of everyday access to technologies and within the computer science professions, both in industry and academia. Academic studies have applied gender theory to computing professions to account for how they are the way they are. Gender theory is increasingly being applied in design research, in areas such as information communication technologies for development, domestic violence, and identity. IT design processes and products increasingly reflect feminist theories, methods, and commitments, but much work remains to be done.