Who has Access to Technology?
In this section we provide a brief sketch or statistical overview of the extent to which Canadians use and/or have access, both at home and at work, to computer technology and other technologies that affect access to learning. Where possible we have reported these data for women; where these data were not readily available we have tried to extrapolate implications for women given other known data.

Women's acess to new computer technologies still lags behind men in many important areas. Women's access to the new technologies is a product of the social forces that affect educational choices, labor force participation, occupational segregation and, relatedly, income levels and family patterns.

Who has Computers?
According to the Statistics Canada Household and Facilities Survey 1996, of approximately 11.4 million Canadian households some 3.6 million, or 31.6%, have a home computer, up over 10% from the previous year. Not surprisingly, data show that those with higher incomes are more likely to have computers.

However, the data show increases in computer ownership in both higher and lower income levels. In 1995, 53% of those with incomes over $70,000 had computers and 11 % of households with incomes under $15,000, whereas in 1994 the numbers were, 45% of the highest income households compared to 9% of households with lower incomes.

Families with children are more likely to own computers (35%) than those without children (25%) or one person households (12%) (1994 Household survey). Although this data is not broken down by women-led households, data for lone parent families (1995 Household survey) can serve as a proxy. In 1995, only 22% of lone parent families with children under 18 had a home computer; whereas 44% of single family households reported computer ownership.¹⁶ The proportion of households with home computers varies across the country. For example, in Alberta and British Columbia, 38% of households have home computers; 22% in Newfoundland and New Brunswick.

Who uses On-line Services?
About half of computer owners also have a modem, the linking equipment required to access the Internet. But in the 1.8 million households with computers equipped with a modem only about one quarter actually access the Internet at home. In the 1994 Household and Facilities Survey, 22% of men and 14% of women with home computers reported that they had used online services.

Use of online services translates into increased hours of computer use for both women and men although women report using the computer fewer hours than men. For those using online services the average number of hours of home computer use per week was nine hours for men (compared to six for men without online services) and seven for women (compared to five for those without online services). More households in Alberta and British Columbia access the Internet than do Canadians on average, 10% as compared to 7.4%.

Who uses Computers at Work?
As our respondents noted, it is through work that many people first begin using a computer. The 1994 Statistics Canada General Social Survey reports that almost 48% of Canadians use computers in the workplace, up almost 15% from 1989. More women (52%) than men (44%) reported that they used computers at work, which reflects their concentration in clerical occupations.

Statistics Canada defines high computer use occupations as where over 60% of the workforce reports using computers. For women, the top four high computer use occupational categories in 1994 were management/administration (28%), library/clerical (25%), bookkeeping/accounting (15%) and teaching (14%); 18% of women reported using computers in "other" occupations. For men the occupational breakdown is management/administration (48%), teaching (10%), architecture (8%), life sciences/mathematics/systems analysis (7%), electronic data processing (6%); 21% of men reported using computers in "other" occupations.