Why Girls Need to Switch on to Computing Reading Answers

Jul 31, 2025

Why Girls Need to Switch on to Computing Reading Answers is an academic reading answers topic. Why Girls Need to Switch on to Computing Reading Answers has a total of 13 IELTS questions in total. In the question set, you have to choose the correct letter. In the next set, you have to fill in the blank with the correct answer in no more than three words for each. In the last IELTS Reading question set given, you have to state whether the statement is true, false or not given with the information given in the text.

The candidate's understanding and assessment of academic and general texts are examined in the IELTS Reading Section. Using IELTS Reading Practice Questions, you can increase your vocabulary, sharpen your critical reading skills, and become more familiar with the various question types in reading tasks. Furthermore, practice enhances vocabulary and improves analytical reading skills, both of which are necessary for success. It's critical to comprehend the guidelines for every question type and create effective ways to manage time to receive excellent band scores.

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Topic:

WHY GIRLS NEED TO SWITCH ON TO COMPUTING

The garden is coming along nicely. Flowers spring into bloom in the herbaceous borders; mature trees are imported to cast their shade across the lawn. If only real life was this simple. For Bernadette Carverry and Jessica Allen, both 10, designing a garden takes a matter of minutes, not years. Later, they might switch to designing a room, complete with a plasma TV, or a bedroom, with lava lamps and pot plants. “I like computers,” says Jessica, “you can design lots of things. “l liked it when we got to design clothes, and do interviews,” says Bernadette. “I was like something you see in a magazine.”

The girls are part of an after-school computer club specifically tailored to get girls interested in what can often be an all-too-macho world of computer games and web design. Once a week, they come along from their west London primary school to the ICT suite of the Sacred Heart

High School in Hammersmith, an 11 to 16 maintained Catholic girls' school, for an hour or so of girly fun at the keyboard. And it clearly is fun. Every computer station in the room is taken, either by the dozen visiting pupils, or by Sacred Heart students, and screens glow With bubble gum

colours as girls run a rock concert, design a magazine or plan a fashion show.“ target is girls in years six and seven. It's nice to be able to offer them something different,” says head of ICT Niall Quinn.

"They find it creative, and they are learning about ICT almost subliminally." Behind the fun lie serious problems. Girls are perfectly happy to use computers as social aids, to chat with their friends or read e-mails, but they are not acquiring the heavyweight technological skills of using

spreadsheets, constructing databases and designing web pages. Pre-school girls seem to embark on life just as interested as boys in computers, but somewhere along the way the rot sets in, so that only a mere fraction of the country's computer graduates are female. Which means that an enormous number of skilled jobs are closed to girls when they leave school, and the e-skills industries, in turn, are finding it hard to get people of the right calibre. This has serious implications for the country's long-term technological capability.

"Jobs are growing in the IT sector much faster than in the economy as a whole,” says Brian McBride, former managing director of T-Mobile, “but there is an overall shortage of skills, and a basic gender imbalance in the industry. Only about twenty per cent of the workforce is female,

and of the women who go into it, many leave to have their families and so on. Part of the problem is the IT and telecommunications image. People tend to think of geeky, long-haired boys playing war games!” Because of this, his former company and other corporate heavyweights, such as British Airways, IBM, the Ford Motor Company and Cisco, have thrown their muscle behind a new initiative to make computers more accessible and girl-friendly.

The Department for Education and Skills came up with funding (£28.4m until 2007), companies donated time, advice and software, and the Computer Club for Girls, or CC4G as it is known, was launched in 2002, with a pilot programme funded by the South East England Development

Agency. “We did some research among women's groups and employers and we found that girls lost interest between about 9 and 13, and weren't carrying on with IT in secondary school," says Melody Hermon, project manager with e-skills UK, the national skills council for the IT sector, which is running the programme. So CC4G developed software for an after-school computer club, mainly in a startling shade of pink, which would allow girls to do all kinds of things dear to their hearts, from designing digital dance moves to planning a sports event.

On the way, so the thinking went, girls would become acquainted with programmes such as Photoshop, MS PowerPoint and MS Excel, and gain confidence in all aspects of using computers. The club would work for all kinds of schools, whether in rich or poor areas, and for all kinds of pupils, from the very bright to the academically challenged. Since the materials were tailored to the national curriculum, it would also underpin the ICT curriculum that pupils were following in key stages two and three and help improve their performance. Most clubs would run after school, or in the lunch hour, but once enrolled, club members would also be free to access the website at home. So far, 1,054 schools are registered, and some of them have 80 to 90 girls signed up to their clubs.

“It's picking up all the time,” says Hermon. “We help and support schools to get started and encourage girls to return to the Site out of hours. The whole thing has a non-school, club-type feel about it, with things that we give away, like pens and bags, which is what girls want. I have two daughters, so I know!” The club is free to schools, and teachers get induction sessions, plus online and telephone support, and those who have been running pilot clubs report good results, with a positive impact on girls' ICT achievements. Two-thirds of girls in these clubs now say they are more likely to think about a career in ICT than before. “The club has made a profound difference in school to attitudes and aptitudes of girls in the ICT area,” says Deborah Forster, head of Trinity School, Newbury, a specialist performing arts and technology college.

“What it has helped do is reinforce the critical link between ICT, the arts, creativity and the full range of subjects. That's the point: IT is an essential part of any career nowadays.” “The beauty of the club is the way it combines a fun, real-life structure for learning IT-related skills with the development of a whole set of wider transferable skills, from project management to teamwork and evaluation. The girls absolutely love going to the club and have been its biggest advocate within school by spreading the word,” says Jenny Wilkins, head of Skinners' Company's School for Girls, in East London.

Questions 27-30

Choose the correct letter.

27. ……………..girls are just as interested in computers as boys of the same age.

A. Very young

B. Older

C. Teenage

Answer: A

Supporting statement: “Pre-school girls seem to embark on life just as interested as boys in computers, but somewhere along the way the rot sets in, so that only a mere fraction of the country's computer graduates are female.”

Keywords: Pre-school girls, interested, computer

Keyword Location: Para 3, Lines 4-6

Explanation: The text explicitly states that “Pre-school girls” are “just as interested as boys in computers,” indicating that very young girls share the same initial interest in computers as boys

28. CC4G is a partnership between the government and

A. private schools.

B. private companies.

C. women's groups.

Answer: B

Supporting statement: “The Department for Education and Skills came up with funding (£28.4m until 2007), companies donated time, advice and software, and the Computer Club for Girls, or CC4G as it is known, was launched in 2002...”

Keywords: Department, Education and Skills, companies donated, launched

Keyword Location: Para 5, Lines 1-2

Explanation: The text clearly states that the Department for Education and Skills (a government body) provided funding, and “companies donated time, advice and software,” indicating a partnership between the government and private companies.

29. The girls in CC4G can

A. only use computers at schools.

B. use computers outside schools.

C. only use computers at the CC4G club rooms.

Answer: B

Supporting statement: “Most clubs would run after school, or in the lunch hour, but once enrolled, club members would also be free to access the website at home.”

Keywords: clubs, website at home

Keyword Location: Para 6, Lines 7-9

Explanation: The passage states that once enrolled, club members would also be free to access the website at home, which means they are not restricted to using computers only at school or in CC4G clubrooms, but can use them outside of school hours and locations.

30. Deborah Forster says that CC4G has

A. strengthened the connection between ICT

and other subjects.

B. helped girls get better grades at school.

C. helped girls become as good as boys at using computers.

Answer: A

Supporting statement: “What it has helped do is reinforce the critical link between ICT, the arts, creativity and the full range of subjects. That's the point: IT is an essential part of any career nowadays.”

Keywords: reinforce, critical link, ICT, creativity

Keyword Location: Para 8, Lines 1-2

Explanation: Deborah Forster explicitly states that the club has“ the critical link between ICT, the arts, creativity and the full range of subjects”, directly supporting option A.

Questions 31-35

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each.

31. Many skilled jobs are ………….because they lack IT skills.

Answer: CLOSED TO GIRLS

Supporting statement: “Which means that an enormous number of skilled jobs are closed to girls when they leave school...”

Keywords: enormous, skilled jobs

Keyword Location: Para 3, Line 7

Explanation: The text states that “an enormous number of skilled jobs are closed to girls” due to their lack of “heavyweight technological skills.”

32.CC4G materials are related to the………….. to help girls with schoolwork.

Answer: NATIONAL CURRICULUM

Supporting statement: “Since the materials were tailored to the national curriculum, it would also underpin the ICT curriculum that pupils were following in key stages two and three and help improve their performance.”

Keywords: tailored, national curriculum, ICT curriculum

Keyword Location: Para 6, Line 5

Explanation: The passage explicitly mentions that the materials were tailored to the national curriculum, directly linking the CC4G materials to academic support for girls' schoolwork.

33. Some CC4G clubs have………….. members.

Answer: 80 TO 90

Supporting statement: “So far, 1,054 schools are registered, and some of them have 80 to 90 girls signed up to their clubs.”

Keywords: 80 to 90 girls, signed up to their clubs

Keyword Location: Para 6, Lines 8-9

Explanation: The text clearly states that “some of them have 80 to 90 girls signed up to their clubs.”

34. Two thirds of girls in CC4G are…………..consider ICT-related work.

Answer: MORE LIKELY TO

Supporting statement: “Two-thirds of girls in these clubs now say they are more likely to think about a career in ICT than before.”

Keywords: Two-thirds of girls, career in ICT

Keyword Location: Para 7, Line 7

Explanation: The statement directly indicates that two-thirds of the girls are more likely to think about a career in ICT, which aligns with considering ICT-related work.

35. Project management, teamwork and evaluation are………………

Answer: (WIDER) TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

Supporting statement: “The beauty of the club is the way it combines a fun, real-life structure for learning IT-related skills with the development of a whole set of wider transferable skills, from project management to teamwork and evaluation.”

Keywords: transferable skills, project management, teamwork, evaluation

Keyword Location: Para 8, Line 3

Explanation: The text explicitly lists project management to teamwork, and evaluation as examples of “wider transferable skills developed by the club.

Questions 36-40

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? Write:

TRUE if the information in the text agrees with the statement.

FALSE if the information in the text contradicts the statement.

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this.

36. Jessica Allen's favourite computer club activity is designing gardens.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Explanation: While Jessica says she likes computers because “you can design lots of things” and Bernadette mentions designing clothes and doing interviews, there's no specific information stating that designing gardens is Jessica Allen's favourite activity. She just mentions designing things in general.

37. Girls are more likely than boys to use computers for communication.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Explanation: The text states that girls use computers for social aids like chatting and email. However, it does not provide a comparison to how boys use computers for communication, only that boys are more likely to acquire “heavyweight technological skills.” Therefore, we cannot determine if girls are more likely than boys to use computers for communication.

38. About 20% of the IT workforce is female.

Answer: TRUE

Supporting statement: “Only about twenty per cent of the workforce is female, and of the women who go into it, many leave to have their families and so on.”

Keywords: twenty per cent, workforce, female

Keyword Location: Para 4, Line 3

Explanation: The text explicitly states that only about twenty per cent of the workforce is female, which directly confirms the statement.

39. Pink is often used to attract girls' attention.

Answer: TRUE

Supporting statement: “So CC4G developed software for an after-school computer club, mainly in a startling shade of pink, which would allow girls to do all kinds of things dear to their hearts, from designing digital dance moves to planning a sports event.”

Keywords: shade of pink, designing, planning

Keyword Location: Para 5, Lines 7-9

Explanation: The text indicates that the CC4G software was mainly in a startling shade of pink and was designed to appeal to girls, implying that pink was used to attract their attention.

40. Girls, rather than teachers, introduced CC4G to Skinners' Company's School for Girls.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Explanation: The text only states that girls promoted CC4G, not that they introduced it.

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