Women use Information Technology to improve many
aspects of their lives
Technology workers are not lonely misfits slaving away in dark cubicles, and men are no longer the only
people taking advantage of potential benefits that technology careers may offer. Instead, women like
Joan Korenman, director of the Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT)
at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, regularly use the Internet and technology to improve
many aspects of their lives.
Beginning in 1990, Korenman, who was teaching English and Women's Studies at the time, became interested
in technology when she first used e-mail. Soon, she had created an online discussion forum that now has
over 4,400 subscribers in 47 countries.
In 1998, Korenman created CWIT, which focuses on women as both developers and users of information
technology and is dedicated to achieving women's full participation in all aspects of IT.
Korenman believes it is time to change the perception of technology careers. She wants women to know
that IT can offer a wide variety of challenging, rewarding opportunities. In response to people who
argue that women are more interested in becoming nurses or teachers because of opportunities to nurture,
she says "Nonsense!"
"I think that throughout history, people are always talking about what's natural, what kind of talents
one group or another has," said Korenman. "Those tend to be way off base and serve political ends rather
than to be scientifically valid. That's true now of people who claim that women don't have talent for
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