It’s what happened to the field of computer science, which in the 1980s had relative gender parity, but has since become an enclave for upwardly mobile white males. Unless there are significant interventions, one could see this world of tinkerers, hackers, and high-tech artists remaining in a bubble of privilege for generations to come. The organization’s highly successful maker faires attract a similar demographic. According to one survey, 81% of the magazine’s 300,000 subscribers are male and their median household income is $106,000. Make Magazine, which has been the central media source for propelling the ideas and creation of makers nationwide, has a distinctly privileged readership. “We don’t want to be so narrow and we don’t want to exclude any type of making because it is more about a curiosity-based approach to learning.” “Yes, ‘maker’ can mean robots and programming Arduinos, but it can also mean quilting and pickle-making and crochet,” Clapp said. This lack of diversity within the maker movement has had a trickle-down effect on the objects they choose to make - and consequently, what is prized within the community. “It’s important that maker-centered learning not be directed toward any one particular type of individual, which includes gender, social class, race, or different subject areas.”
“It’s something that we’re very concerned about and grappling with,” said Edward Clapp, a maker education researcher at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Most self-identified makers, to be blunt, are highly educated white men. Did she suspect that the contraption was a bomb because he was a Muslim? Would a non-Muslim student have been treated in the same way? Why was it easier to imagine Ahmed as a terrorist rather than a clock-maker? The media pounced on the inherent bias of Mohamed’s teacher. These questions have been percolating in the “maker community” for some time - and gained relevance when 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was arrested last month after his homemade clock was mistaken for a bomb. W ho is allowed to “make”? Who is celebrated for hand-fashioning all sorts of devices, objects, artworks and comestibles - and perhaps picking up some critical thinking skills in the process?
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