This case study asks how all-girls workshops built around 2 generative AI tools in a European makerspace worked as a way to address girls' low representation and participation in computing. The authors analysed qualitative, multimodal data, including 15 interviews with families and practitioners, 4 reflective sessions, observation fieldnotes and 44 AI-generated images, using Harding's multi-level framework and feminist pedagogy as critical lenses.
- Stakeholders generally viewed the all-girls workshop format positively.
- Practitioners supported girls' participation by attending to representation and building relationships, and they adjusted their approach in response to the girls.
- The workshop topic was judged inappropriate, and there was little collaboration between peers.
- The selected GenAI tools were hard for the girls to access, and prompt-writing raised language barriers.
- The authors read these problems as signs that girls' voices and agency, along with the strengths they bring, were pushed to the margins.
The authors argue that gender-equity efforts in computing need to move past cosmetic girlification, where activities are restyled to look girl-friendly, and instead put girls' perspectives and strengths at the centre. They call for changes at symbolic, structural, social and individual levels. From this they propose a girl-centred, multi-level framework with practical guidance on using GenAI to promote gender equity in computing, and they call for more research and practice on equity-oriented uses of the technology, which they describe as largely unexplored.
