Abstract:

The main objective of this work is to analyze whether belonging to a social network like Facebook (FB) encourages young women to play video games and analyzing the use of their technological practices, to know what brings them closer to technological studies.

Currently, gender differences are no longer focused on access to technology, but on the type of use and levels of technological knowledge that women present (González, et al., 2012). They do not access expert knowledge or present expert use in the same proportion as men. For example, in the 2018-19 academic year, of those enrolled in the first year of the Computer Science Degree only 13'19% were women; and in public universities it is observed that in some scientific-technological areas there is an under-representation of researchers, such as Engineering and Technology (24%), and Natural Sciences (34%) and Agricultural Sciences (36%). The image of “leaky pipeline” (Metcaf, 2010) to explain this inequality is one of the “paradigms” that has been used, and represents the gradual loss of the presence of women in the technological field. The unequal relationship between men and women with ICTs, especially in their expert use, is no longer expressed in quantitative terms, but in their qualitative aspect related to their appropriation and use. Thus, the gender gap is the relationship established between technology and people, which is given, not because of personal skills and motivations, but because of the gender we have assigned (Gil-Juárez, et al., 2014).

Why do young women are disinterested in technologies? We analyze their use of videogames - as a gateway to technology (Turkle, 1997) - in social networks. We assume that girls who belong to a social network like FB and who use video games, will be more attracted to technology.

We ask ourselves:
a) Girls who belong to a social network that has games, do they play? Do they play more than those that are not in social networks ?;
b) Does being part of a social network that has games facilitate their use ?;
c) Are they more interested in technology when they play on social networks?

Combining quantitative and qualitative methodology, a questionnaire was administered to 60 girls from 14 to 18 years of age at a secondary school in Gelida (Barcelona), in order to know the profile of habits, uses and appropriations that the girls made of social networks and the videogames. Likewise, an observation was made of the activity in FB of another 60 girls, between 14 and 18 years.
64% of the girls play video games, and 92% belong to a social network. In FB, its main activity is to upload photos, update its status, make comments; and playing is not so majority: 15% play 1 or 2 times a week, 23% less than once a week and 45% never play virtually. The observation showed that the main activity is relational (54%). Of the girls who play more video games (10% every day, and 3% 5 or six times a week), only 4% did or wanted to pursue a scientific or technological baccalaureate.

From the first results presented here, and for the girls in the sample analyzed, we can say that:
1) Being part of a social network, which incorporates online games, does not necessarily lead to videogames; and
2) The fact of playing in a social network like FB does not necessarily entail being more interested in technology.

Keywords:

Girls, technology, science, video games, social networks, gender gap.