Access to computers: is there a gender gap?

In 1984, we began to study student attitudes toward the computer to determine whether the computer might be viewed as a “critical filter”, discouraging women from using computers, enrolling in computer classes, and choosing some majors. In business, we were particularly interested in determining whether a differential approach to computers might have an impact on careers. This paper compares attitudes of students enrolled in an introductory computer course designed for business students in 1984 with the attitudes of students enrolled in the same course in 1997. Students were asked to provide demographic data and information about previous exposure to computers. In 1997, they were also asked about their applications and interface preferences, use of e-mail and use of online services. Four of sixteen scaled questions were used to construct a Fear Index for each year