Women, Work and Computing

An exploration of claims that computers will ultimately provide women with a wealth of opportunities.

Ruth Woodfield (Author)

9780521771894, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 December 2000

222 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.5 kg

'Woodfield's discussion of her research and her detailed analysis of her interviews with Softech employees provides a fascinating window into an intense and highly selective work environment. This together with her discussion of the nature and validity of ethnographic work makes this book an excellent model for post-graduate research students designing similar studies of work environments.' Sociology

Although few dispute the computer's place as a pivotal twentieth century artefact, little agreement has emerged over whether the changes it has precipitated are generally positive or negative in nature, or whether we should be contemplating our future association with the computer more with enthusiasm or trepidation. Specifically with regard to the relationship between women and computers, a diverse body of commentary has embraced the views of those who have found grounds for expressing pessimism about this association and those who have favoured a more optimistic assessment of the current situation and its probable future development. This book undertakes a thorough evaluation of the legitimacy and predictive power of the optimistic commentary. Using a large body of original qualitative data, it interrogates the bases of what it identifies as three waves of optimism and in doing so provides answers to some of the key questions asked in this field today.

1. Gender and the development of computer culture: the myth of the neutral computer
2. Computers, communication and change: making way for the hybrids
3. Softech: a 'twenty-first century organisation'
4. Male and female pathways through the unit
5. Hybrids and hierarchies
6. Towards a framework for understanding the relationship between gender and skill in the unit
7. The female future and new subjectivities
8. Conclusion: is the future female?

Subject Areas: Gender studies, gender groups [JFSJ], Social issues & processes [JFF]