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The main question to be discussed in this article is: Why do women not program? In other words, why, in an activity that appears similar to others where women have gained ground, one cannot find an analogous process of incorporation? We propose a scheme of five related factors in order to analyse the genealogy of women’s exclusion from the world of software. First, we discuss the relation between gender and technologies in general, focusing on the initial stages of socialisation. Second, we fast forward a few years in the lives of boys and girls and we analyse their first interaction with digital technologies. Next, in relation to puberty or adolescence, we inquire into peer-group dynamics which are established by those who dedicate much of their time to computers. Fourth, we take into account the gender gap in college or bachelor degrees related to informatics. Lastly, we analyse the common representations of and beliefs about gender that employers hold in relation to informatics workers. These five parts of the explanation have different foundations. Some rely strongly on our qualitative fieldwork in Buenos Aires; others are based on texts or statistics which belong to other authors.

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The Argentinean software and information services (SIS) sector has grown steadily over the last decade. However, academics, policy makers and managers agree that the shortage of computer science (CS) degree-holders has been (and is) jeopardizing future growth. This paper depicts the situation of formal education in CS and related areas in Argentina, providing the necessary basis from which to call into question the assumption that the primary driving force of a powerful SIS sector is CS graduates. After presenting figures of enrollment, graduates and researchers, we find that while it is true that there is a mismatch between the trends of formal education in CS and that of Argentinean SIS, it is not clear at all that the sector is limited because of that. First, international comparisons with the US and the UK show that the proportion of graduates is not necessarily the main driver of a highly innovative SIS sector. Secondly, qualitative sources underline the relevance of informal learning in the acquisition of the software skills actually used by workers. Additionally, the particular evolution of SIS wages could be limiting the inflow of graduates into the sector.

The aim of this paper is to reexamine some typologies of knowledge as a means of framing the presentation of our own typology, which arises from a particular theoretical framework – cognitive materialism. In a somewhat arbitrary route through the economics of innovation, organizational and management studies, the typologies of Lundvall, Machlup, Mokyr, Spender, Blackler and Chartrand are reviewed and criticized. Then, picking up on some elements which arise from the previous analysis, the proposal of a cognitive materialist typology is introduced, based on distinguishing types of knowledge on the basis of the material medium or bearer in which they exist. A division into four types is suggested: knowledge with a biological, subjective, inter-subjective and objective bearer, each with its own respective sub-types.