GENDER DIFFERENCES IN COMPUTING ACTIVITIES

Over the last fifteen years, more women have entered the workplace, bo th in general, and in previously male-dominated professions. The major ity of jobs now involve knowledge work and are increasingly impacted b y computer technology. Many occupations require personnel who possess technology-related skills. The gender model of work predicts that due to sex role males will be at an advantage in computer-related jobs. Th e job model of work predicts that there will be no gender differences at equivalent jobs. The present study applied the gender and job model s of work to explore gender differences in a variety of computer-relat ed, job-specific tasks. In a discriminant analysis of a sample consist ing of 776 knowledge workers, males experienced more positive computer -related outcomes than females, supporting the gender model. Examinati on within job categories yielded similar results except for clerical j obs. Males and females reported significantly different computer relat ed outcomes even when job level was held constant. These findings prov ide support for the gender model of work.