Mar Hicks is a historian of technology, gender and modern Europe, notable for their work on the history of
women in computing. Hicks is a professor at the
University of Virginia’s School of Data Science. Hicks wrote the 2017 book, Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing.[1]
Early life and education
Hicks received a
B.A. in Modern European History from
Harvard University with their thesis The Price of Excellence: Coresidence and Women's Integration at Oxford and Harvard Universities, 1964-1977.[2] They studied history at
University of Oxford for a year as a visiting student. After receiving a
M.A. from the Department of History at
Duke University, Hicks earned a
Ph.D., also from the Department of History at
Duke University.
Career
Prior to earning a Ph.D., Hicks worked at
Harvard University as a
UNIXsystem administrator. Hicks has said the position informed their later work on history of technology.
Hicks's work focuses on issues of inequality in high tech, particularly gender discrimination in the computing industry.[3] Their book "Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge In Computing"[4] reveals a switch in the 1960s and 1970s, where as computing roles became more powerful, women who dominated computer programming roles were systematically replaced with men.[5][6][7][8][9]
Hicks is known for drawing from this history when writing about contemporary gender issues in the computing industry.[10][11][12][13][14] Hicks has also written about the early history of computer dating in the mainframe era, showing that women were at the forefront of creating computer dating businesses, contrary to what was previously thought.[15][16]
Hicks, Mar (2017). Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing. Boston: MIT Press.
ISBN978-0-262-53518-2.
OCLC1164502643.
Mullaney, Thomas S.; Peters, Benjamin; Hicks, Mar; Philip., Kavita, eds. (2021). Your Computer Is on Fire. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
ISBN978-0-262-53973-9.
OCLC1226612091.
Selected publications
Hicks, Mar (October 2010). "Only the Clothes Changed: Women Operators in British Computing and Advertising, 1950–1970". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 32 (4): 5–17.
doi:
10.1109/MAHC.2010.55.
S2CID44935068.
Hicks, Mar (October 2018). "When Winning Is Losing: Why the Nation that Invented the Computer Lost Its Lead". Computer. 51 (10): 48–57.
doi:
10.1109/MC.2018.3971355.
S2CID53230984.
Hicks, Mar (January 1, 2019). "Hacking the Cis-Tem: Transgender Citizens and the Early Digital State". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 41 (1): 20–33.
doi:
10.1109/MAHC.2019.2897667.
OCLC1099846368.
S2CID84186961.
^Hicks, Mar (2017). Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing. Boston: MIT Press.
ISBN978-0-262-53518-2.
OCLC1164502643.