The gender-based digital divide in maker culture: features, challenges and possible solutions

Abstract

Despite advances made in the last five decades, women remain underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees and occupations. This gender gap is also evident in the number of women in modern communities of technophiles called Maker culture and the common Maker co-working spaces such as fablabs. Since fablabs are considered as inclusive and collaborative workspaces, we aim to research the current level of women’s inclusion in the Maker culture, the possible root causes of women’s underrepresentation, and we examine the means to tackle this issue at a micro-level. Our findings from an ethnographic study that started in a fablab community located in the south of France and expanded through semi-structured interviews with members of the Maker culture offer interesting insights on the question of gender inequalities.JEL Codes: O3, L3, J16, I24, Q55

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