Gender and Technology at Work

From Workplace Studies to Social Justice in Design

Volker Wulf author Ellen Balka author Ina Wagner author Anne Weibert author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:4th Apr '24

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Gender and Technology at Work cover

Insights about how gender and technology interact at work framed from an ethical-political standpoint, aimed at achieving design justice.

This book traces the gendering of women's work and technology from its historical roots in factories, offices, IT companies, and hospitals to contemporary workplaces including platform- and AI-based work. It adopts a feminist/intersectional perspective on design with a focus on norm-critical, social justice-oriented, and decolonizing approaches.This book brings together the vast research literature about gender and technology to help designers understand what a gender perspective and a focus on intersectionality can contribute to designing information technology systems and artifacts, and to assist organizations as they work to develop work cultures that are supportive of women and marginalized genders and people. Drawing on empirical and analytical studies of women's work and technology in many parts of the world, the book addresses how to make invisible aspects of work visible; how to recognize women's skills without falling into the trap of gender stereotyping; how to engage in improving working conditions; and how to defend care of life situations and needs against a managerial logic. It addresses challenges for design, including many overlooked and undervalued aspects, such as the complexities involved in human–machine interactions, as well as the need to create safe spaces for research subjects.

'This expansive volume conveys how decades of feminist scholarship on women, work, and technology can inform artifact and system design in ways that promote social justice. It is enriched by the collaboration of a multidisciplinary, multinational team of authors who weave their own stories and those of other feminist technologists into the narrative.' Carol J. Haddad, Professor Emerita of Technology Studies, Eastern Michigan University
'A captivating deep dive into the intersection of gender, technology, and workplace culture. The authors masterfully integrate extensive research, providing essential guidance for designing user-centric IT systems and promoting inclusive workplaces. A pivotal guide for creating a more equitable tech world.' Nicola Marsden, Professor of Social Informatics, Heilbronn University, Author of Retaining Women in Tech: Shifting the Paradigm
'This book provides a very welcome and sensitive appraisal of the gender-technology relationship in an ever faster-paced era of change in both domains. It is conceptually comprehensive and politically engaged, restoring authority and agency to those conventionally overlooked and marginalised in technological design processes. A must-read for all those interested in the challenges of achieving social justice in technology design.' Juliet Webster, Work and Equality Research, London
'Balka, Wagner, Weibert & Wulf's expertise and established commitment to participatory design (PD) and computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) provides a rich history of feminist scholarship in gender and technology studies that has shaped this field. Interspersed with interviews from eleven feminist pioneers in PD, CSCW, HCI and STS, they offer provocations, ethical-political perspectives and inspiration for burgeoning intersectional and interdisciplinary research and practice in gender, work and system design, data feminism, critical data studies, and data justice and design justice.' Leslie Regan Shade, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto

ISBN: 9781009243698

Dimensions: 228mm x 151mm x 21mm

Weight: 580g

406 pages