Full Circle Associates

I've been interested in the area of women in technology since I became a woman in technology in 1996. Currently I volunteer with a program here in Seattle called Ignite which helps bring women working into technology into classrooms to talk with young women about their options. So I was interested to scan Women Online Have New Tech Attitude, According to Survey; Survey Reveals New Woman Emerging - ''Tif'' the Technology Involved Female

...according to Intel Corporation's "Women, Technology and Lifestyle" online survey of American adults, released today, women are catching up with men in the way they embrace technology....The survey reveals that women are using computing technology in their daily lives now more than ever.

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Introducing "Tif" - the Technology Involved Female
A new, tech-savvy woman has emerged and Intel calls her "Tif," short for Technology Involved Female. She spans generations and backgrounds, from the young women who have grown up with technology, to women who have been exposed to technology at work, to motivated self-learners. Tif is closing the technology gender gap, with women at the youngest end of the spectrum actually surpassing men in their intent to purchase a laptop. Half of young women say their next computer will be a laptop as compared to 43 percent of men their same age.(2)

Closing the Technology Gender Gap
Technology has become increasingly important in the daily lives of women. The Intel/Harris Interactive survey reveals women (58 percent) feel as lost as their male counterparts(3) (56 percent) if they don't check email at least once per day. And, women continue to want more and more from their technology, with the majority of women (62 percent), like men (66 percent), enthusiastic about learning how to use new features on their computers.

Not often recognized as early adopters, women in the survey are revealed as leading the way with wireless Internet access, as more women than men believe this is one of the most important features for a laptop to have (39 percent women versus 29 percent men). While men (51 percent) and women (48 percent) agree that the airport tops the list of the most useful locations to have wireless Internet access, women (38 percent) are more likely than men (30 percent) to desire a connection in a doctor's office as well.

A few other stats from the survey:

• women have become more reliant on their laptops
  
• women still lag behind men in some areas including confidence in their decision to purchase computers
  
• they are nearly three times as likely as men to believe that the opposite sex overstates their knowledge about computers (32 percent women versus 10 percent men)
  

Clearly this is a survey with a marketing purpose, and it has a slant that I took as slightly patronizing. But the reality is that women have more clout as users and purchasers of technology than as women working in tech fields. So lets weild the power!