Women Encounter Technology

Changing Patterns of Employment in the Third World

Swasti Mitter, Sheila Rowbotham

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2003
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781134799503
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Social Sciences

This collection explores the effects of new technologies on women's employment and on the nature of women's work. The volume is edited by two pre-eminent scholars in the field and contains thirteen articles from leading academics worldwide. The book provides a critique of postmodernism and ecofeminism and demands that new technology is used as a vehicle for gender equality in the developing world.

1 Beyond the politics of difference
An introduction

Swasti Mitter

It is not that there is a lack of thinking and writing about the impact of information technology on women’s working lives. Indeed, there has been a plethora of literature in this field, especially since the mid-1980s. The literature, however, reflected a certain class and regional bias, as it focused mainly on office work and almost exclusively on the experiences of first world countries.¹ In the last decade, in my professional capacity, I have attended and contributed to a large number of workshops and seminars, in Europe and in the United States, on the subject of women and IT. In the discussion and formulation of areas of concern, I invariably felt dismayed at the lack of voice of third world women, and at the lack of an authentically international perspective. I noted a shift in the mood of academic gatherings in the 1980s—reflecting contemporary obsessions with nationhood, and with tradition and identity. In the climate of identity politics, there was, understandably, little chance for recognizing and comparing workers’ experiences across cultural boundaries—in spite of the pervasiveness of the information revolution and the globalization of the market economy.

I often thought of taking up the challenge of redressing the balance, of documenting, however roughly, the changing position of women of the third world. In such a venture, I knew I could rely on the research and documentation assembled by some of my friends—friends whom I have collected, like precious pearls, in different phases of my working life. I was, of course, aware of the limitations of such an initiative and the difficulty of encapsulating, in one short-term project, the wide-ranging experiences of the whole third world. Yet I was convinced that only such a bold, and perhaps foolhardy, initiative, would lead to a more systematic and integrated investigation and analysis.

My vision became a reality in 1991, with the support and enthusiasm of two leading feminist scholars: Sheila Rowbotham and Fatima Mernissi. Well known for their work in recovering women from the oblivion of history (Rowbotham, 1992; Mernissi, 1994), it is not surprising that they encouraged my plan to document women’s role in, and response to, IT in our time. It is because of their initiative that I received an opportunity to place my project, for consideration, in the research programme of the United Nations University. To my great elation, Lal Jayawardena, who was then the Director of WIDER (World Institute for Development Economics Research), liked my project proposal and passed it on to Professor Charles Cooper, who had just taken up the Directorship of INTECH (Institute for New Technologies) at Maastricht. From 1992, INTECH as an institute, and Charles Cooper as my colleague, gave me unstinting support: in commissioning the papers, in organizing the workshop, and in helping to bear the human and financial cost of editing.

The essays in this anthology, thus, are contributions towards filling a major lacuna in the literature of women’s studies and of development economics. They document the impact of information technology on the working lives of women in third world countries. The writings are by thirteen committed academics, and convey more than just empirical observations. They raise questions of women’s autonomy and agency and try to articulate women’s needs and demands. Challenges that women face in adjusting to the demands of information technology are the focal points of the essays; yet women’s responses and organizing strategies when confronted with such challenges equally permeate the arguments and analyses. They alert us to the roles that family, ideology, state policies, and trade union structures play in distributing IT-related employment between women and men.

WHO ARE THE WOMEN OF THE THIRD WORLD?

The essays focus mainly, but by no means exclusively, on the third world. Indeed, over the years, the definition of ‘different’ worlds itself has become somehow elusive and contentious. With the rising economic power of countries such as Japan, it becomes difficult to include all affluent countries even under the oft-used blanket category of western nations. Likewise, the entry of the east European countries into the category of developing nations poses definitional problems. Whether these countries of eastern Europe, previously described as the second world, would now like to be seen as parts of the third is far from clear. Terms such as ‘economies in transition’ are makeshift jargon, to designate precisely those countries which are uncertain about their status and alliances. In any case, given the hybrid nature of the cultural identity and consciousness of peoples in most societies (Bhaba, 1994), it is prudent to stay clear of an exclusive and binary categorization. The effects of postcolonial migration, and the rise of underprivileged migrant communities in the so-called ‘first world’, give yet another reason to remember the interconnections between different national economies and regional blocs. In this anthology, the term ‘third world’ refers simply, and admittedly roughly, to non-affluent communities and nations. In this extended sense it includes the ex-socialist countries of eastern Europe, as well as immigrant groups residing in technologically and economically developed nations.

The anthology does not exclude consideration of the experiences of women from richer countries on strategic grounds. The success and failure of women in having their voices heard in rich countries provide a valuable point of reference for women of the third world. Gender—or the social construction of the role of women—is only one of many factors which determine the impact of information technology on a worker’s life; ethnicity, religion, age and class, in some cases, play even greater roles in defining one’s position in the world of work.

By highlighting the differences in the interests and needs of different groups of women, the anthology challenges the validity of any monolithic, specifically feminine vision of technology and science. The contributions in this volume, independently of one another, affirm the view that, instead of demanding an essentialist, ahistoric, universal, woman-friendly technology, it will be more rewarding to study, in the context of the current technological revolution, the needs and experiences of groups of women in different societies. Women, even in a single society, do not form a homogeneous group. In their dual role as mothers and workers, however, the majority of women do face certain common difficulties. Women’s access to and control over childcare and reproductive technology, understandably, determines their ability to share the benefits of IT. Women’s entry into the world of new tech urban employment in turn augments, as the essays highlight, their social power and control over their fertility.

ACCOUNTING FOR WOMEN’S POSITION IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

It is precisely in the context of women’s autonomy and choice in poorer countries and in less affluent communities that it is now pertinent to focus on the impact of information technology on employment opportunities. In doing so, it is important to bear in mind the distinctive features of the current revolution in the mode of production, which is primarily knowledgeintensive. IT comprises a set of technologies that actively process information rather than merely storing or transmitting it. Computers, the key hardware, and non-material software systems form its essential core.

The convergence of computing, telecommunication and satellite technology in recent years alters the structure of work not only in the economies that are at the centre of Research and Development in this field, but also in countries that primarily adapt and adopt these technologies for market orientation. Even in nations which are in economic terms relatively poor, IT substantially changes the traditional production process as well as the marketable goods and services produced. The demand for components of IT-related hardware—such as microchips—or for information-processing activities—such as data entry or software programming—creates new areas for employment in developing countries. In addition, the telecommunication revolution, which allows companies to shift parts of their manufacturing and service production to geographically distant locations, makes it possible for low-wage countries to receive some amount of labour-intensive relocated work from the first world countries. The evolving international division of labour now encompasses a vast range: from the production of semiconductors or telecommunications equipment to service-related software programming and data entry.

In this scenario, it has not been easy to ascertain whether women, in aggregate terms, have benefited from the information revolution or lost out. In some spheres, women, especially older women, are now threatened with imminent technological redundancies, especially in manufacturing. The skills needed for traditional labour-intensive assembly-line work have given way to new requirements for polyvalent, cognitive skills. The spread of information processing work, especially in banking, finance or telecommunication, by contrast, has opened up new opportunities for women who are computer-literate and young enough to learn newer skills. In the sphere of self-employment, information technology, as the contributions in the volume show, heralds new possibilities for women and men; yet women, more than men, fail to achieve their potential because of their lack of access to business and marketing skills.

Against this background of contradictory trends, it is futile to formulate a generalized strategy for giving women access to education and training. The opportunities and barriers that women face in gaining appropriate skills depend too much on the historical specificity of the situation and on their class backgrounds for this to be possible. As it is important to have a clear vision of the commonality and differences in the interests of different groups of women, it is equally strategic to move beyond an ahistoric, and thus simplistic notion of an unchanging women’s response to technology. The empirical work in the anthology, in order to avoid such an approach, is deliberately presented in a historical perspective: of women’s entry into and exit from the invention, application and management of technology in different periods.

By charting the contributions of women who have been obliterated from history, Sheila Rowbotham argues in her paper that:

Rather than viewing history in terms of an undifferentiated structure of patriarchy, it is possible to see women emerging intellectually in some periods and forced into retreat in others…examination(s) of both the barriers which have prevented women from gaining access and the circumstances which have made it possible for women to…contribute to technology…have a significant and direct relevance to the contemporary position of women.

Indeed, it is not that women did not play any role in the development of information technology. But their contributions have been forgotten or obliterated from history because women, as a group, have remained invisible in the public domain of commercial decisions and vocational training. The marginalization of Rosalind Franklin’s role in the discovery of DNA, the key concept of biotechnology, highlights the difficulty even extremely privileged women face in gaining recognition, even in recent times (Rose, 1994:150–153). The picture that emerges out of the papers in this anthology is clear. Women’s role in the formulation and construction of technology is best understood not in terms of their essential differences from men but in terms of material conditions that include them in the market and institutions, or preclude them from these. As I claim in my own paper in this anthology:

The technological innovations become commercially successful if and when the creator of the innovation could make use of political, economic and legal networks. Thus the dominant group in a society determines the shape and direction of a society’s techno-economic order—and the image of an inventor has almost always been male.

IT AND THE WORLD OF WORK: MANUFACTURING AND SERVICES SECTORS

The employment implications of IT assume a special importance in the context of an uneven distribution of economic and political power. In the past, women’s limited access to paid employment and corporate networks has led to a bias in the adoption of technology and to a differential impact on women and men.

It is important at this point to explore why the subject of women and IT has received so little attention in recent research and literature. The reason can hardly be the lack of relevance of computers to women of the developing world. In urban areas of the majority of countries, the use of computers is no longer a novel phenomenon, even among less privileged women of poorer nations.

The case study of TAMWA (Tanzania Media Women’s Association), as documented by Fatma Alloo in this anthology, demonstrates how IT could enhance the power of journalists and media people to disseminate news and views for educating and for mobilizing a wide range of non-elite women. The effective use of desktop publishing and printing work augments TAMWA’s income generating activities. TAMWA does not have to be at the cutting edge of technology. Reasonably cheap, and by western standards old, computers allow TAMWA to be effective in networking and to remain sustainable in the long run. As Fatma Alloo so passionately asserts:

The fact that we can produce so-called ‘first world’ quality in spite of being a so-called ‘third world’ group has been an empowering process…. [It has led to] the demystification of information technology for that class which needs it the most in order to have their voices heard…. For example, we produce brochures on the laws which affect women’s lives, written in a simplified Kiswahili, with visuals and big letters for the new literates in Tanzania. Information technology can be used to destroy [Africa’s] ‘poor and powerless’ myth, and to mobilize a community for empowerment and social change.

The current research and documentation are not extensive enough to make possible a quantitative estimate of the impact of IT on women’s manufacturing employment in the developing world. The sectoral and country studies, as documented here, merely give a ‘bird’s-eye view’ of the fundamental transformation that IT is generating in the production process of some developing countries.

Argentina and Brazil—two major Latin American countries—have been in the forefront of the adoption of new technologies in sectors such as textiles, which provided a major source of employment to women. On the basis of extensive interviews and published data, Liliana Acero constructs the way in which women are responding to a new industrial culture—where companies are automating not just to save labour costs, but also to obtain higher efficiency and flexibility in order to meet international quality standards. Her paper delineates the demands women themselves are making in relation to the formal and informal training system that companies and the state are providing for workers.

Acero highlights the complex way in which technological changes affect the quality and quantity of women’s work. In some ways, she agrees with Braverman’s ‘degradation of work’ hypothesis, which postulates that advances in technology essentially lead to deskilling and feminization of work. Yet her paper points also to a contradictory trend: the new production process increasingly demands technical and managerial expertise and polyvalent skills for core occupations. Acero’s work highlights the factors, social and educational, that bar women from the opportunities to upgrade their skills, so as to have access to these core jobs. Her observations on women’s status and role at work and at home stress the need to have a deeper insight into the links between private and public domains in workers’ lives. New technology, in reducing the skill components of assembly-line jobs, makes these more accessible to women. Increased job opportunities, however, bring new tensions in workers’ domestic lives. Acero documents the life of a typical woman textile worker in Argentina: ‘My marriage started to break down when I started work…. I had more chances than he did. So things started going wrong.’ The evolving situation in the household poses special challenges to women who take time off in order to organize around their workplace demands, or who take initiatives in family planning. The relative shift of power, nonetheless, as Acero shows, has contributed to some autonomy for women and extended work and training possibilities.

Pavla Jezkova’s paper in this anthology complements Liliana Acero’s documentation of Latin America. The adoption of computer technology in textiles, in countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh, has been less extensive and more recent than in Brazil and Argentina. The displacement of women in response to new technology has thus been less marked than in Latin America. In fact, large numbers of women have entered the garments sector of the textiles industry, where the use of new technology is becoming more extensive. Export-oriented industrialization and foreign direct investment—vehicles of technology transfer—have opened up new opportunities to women. Women, however, are rarely represented in the decision-making areas and are predominant only in blue-collar jobs. In the next phase of technological change these are precisely the jobs that will be vulnerable. Jezkova, in the context of shifts in the world trading order, thus gives reasons and methods for more effective state policies in order to ensure and to improve women’s position in industrial employment.

Upgrading women’s skills through a continuous learning process benefits women and the countries involved. Jezkova confirms observations that I have made in my own paper, that highly-skilled women workers are a good selling point for countries to attract direct foreign investment. In an economic environment where achieving international competitiveness through foreign collaboration is considered a high priority, women’s education and training for new technology production jobs assume special importance. In the training programme, as Jezkova points out, it is crucial to give women access to ‘soft’ and transferable business skills that allow them to cope with the dictates of the market and of technology.

The nature and direction of IT is shaped essentially by a country’s geopolitical environment, which includes its alliance to specific trading blocs. But, even within a country, the impact of technology is never uniform. The response and the speed of adjustment to IT depend much on a worker’s group identity and her social position.

Charlene Gannagé’s paper in this anthology elucidates this point. Gannagé’s analytical categories go beyond the usual Marxist feminist categories of class and of gender. She stresses instead the need to combine class, gender and ethnicity simultaneously in understanding the changing labour process in our postcolonial time. The paper elucidates the way information technology, in tandem with trading alliances and new corporate strategies, alters the job opportunities and career structure of immigrant women in a society such as Canada. The technology has not simply replaced labour, it has also led to a polarization in skills and to decentralization of work to home-based workers. Charlene Gannagé’s observations thus call for a government policy and union strategies towards education and training programmes that are anti-racist and feminist, and that take account explicitly of the specific needs of immigrant workers.

In a discussion of identity and difference—personal or national—the access to and control of IT have a special meaning. The degrees of exclusion that arise from the information revolution sharply differentia...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Figures
• Tables
• Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• 1: Beyond the politics of difference: An introduction
• 2: Information technology and working women’s demands
• 3: Feminist approaches to technology: Women’s values or a gender lens?
• 4: Conflicting demands of new technology and household work: Women’s work in Brazilian and Argentinian textiles
• 5: Changes in textiles: Implications for Asian women
• 6: Information technology and women’s employment in manufacturing in eastern Europe: The case of Slovenia
• 7: Restructuring and retraining: The Canadian garment industry in transition
• 8: Computerization and women’s employment in India’s banking sector
• 9: Information technology, gender and employment: A case study of the telecommunications industry in Malaysia
• 10: Women in software programming: The experience of Brazil
• 11: Something old, something new, something borrowed…the electronics industry in Calcutta
• 12: Women and information technology in sub-Saharan Africa: A topic for discussion?
• 13: Gender perspectives on health and safety in information processing: Learning from international experience
• 14: Using information technology as a mobilizing force: The case of the Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA)
• 15: The fading of the collective dream?: Reflections on twenty years’ research on information technology and women’s employment
• Afterword