New Gender Roles in Digital World

“In a couple of cases, women are embracing new technologies faster than men.

‘The good news is that women are closing the gap,’ said Genevive Bell, a cultural anthropologist who works for chipmaker Intel. Overall, women are using technology nearly as often as men, Bell said, but they are using it differently.

In a Harris Interactive survey commissioned by Intel, women were more enthusiastic about Wi-Fi than men, and they said they planned to use it in different ways….

Women and men want wireless access in airports, but more women than men said they want wireless Internet access in their doctors' offices and at salons….

Bell said women tend to use technology in ways that make busy days more manageable, which is why cell phones, laptops and wireless Internet access are popular, she said….

‘Women tend to have more interest in communicating, so it makes sense that they would tend to be heavier users of mobile communications features such as text messaging,’ Enpocket President Mike Baker said.” [SignOnSanDiego, via textually.org]

These findings aren’t really new; rather, they’re just confirmation of an ongoing trend. Women also use libraries more than men do, so you have to ask yourself if we’re doing enough to help them use library “technology in ways that make busy days more manageable.” My answer is no, we’re not, and we need to change this. Provide Wi-Fi for these women when they are in the library, educate them about RSS to help make their information flow more manageable, send them text alerts from the catalog and the reference desk, provide better virtual reference services so we’re wherever they are when they need us. There’s so much more we could do.