0 - Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2024
Summary
This chapter frames the book. It explains the focus of women as a historically highly relevant category while acknowledging the multiplicities of (gender) identities and relations that the rise of queer theory has opened. It also draws attention to the different experiences that women have at work in relation to technology, which are mediated in complex ways by ethnic and class backgrounds as well as issues of sexuality. The chapter outlines the different disciplinary orientations the book draws upon – including feminist theory, science, technology, and society studies, sociology of work, political economy, organizational studies, labour history, as well as CSCW, HCI, and participatory design – to then introduce the key concepts and theories used in the book: the distinction between sex and gender, intersectionality, the problematic notion of race, the view of engineers/designers making ethical-political choices, the concept of technology. It forwards the notion of practice-based research and the importance of involving users in design decisions as key to achieving gender equality in design. These concepts will be elaborated as well as made ‘practical’ in the course of the book.
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- Information
- Gender and Technology at WorkFrom Workplace Studies to Social Justice in Design, pp. 1 - 22Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024