Kvinnor om IT ? högskolestudenters förhållande till informationsteknik
Information technology (IT) penetrates more and more areas in the community. The Commission for Information Technology is of the opinion that the use ought to be widespread but states that this is not yet a reality. Differences exist between groups, e.g. between women and men. The purpose of this Master's thesis is to examine how female university students enrolled in two different programmes experience and use IT and to compare this with society's picture of the relationship between IT and women. Qualitative interviews were carried out with students enrolled in technical and law programmes. The findings show that the majority of the students regard IT as a practical aid in achieving a particular purpose and that it is important for them that they have a use for the technology at hand. The technical students have good access to computers at the university and prefer using them to their own. However, the situation is completely the opposite for the law students. They experience a certain degree of stress because it is expected of them to know more about IT than they in fact do. The technicians have a more relaxed relationship to IT and learn as they go without pressure from their surroundings. A conclusion is that technicians have better access and a more relaxed attitude because of their choice of subject and because they are already in a technical environment. Another conclusion is that an interest in IT does not seem to be included in the female identity.