Gender and Information Technologies Essay -- Feminist theories of tech

Technology is socially and culturally constructed as a potent practice carried out in male institutions (Hellman, 1996). The dominant value system of underlying technological creative processes and decision making, is considered to be fundamentally masculine. This is because during the late 19th century mechanical and civil design increasingly came to define what -technology is, crucially it involved the creation of a male professional identity, based on educational qualifications and the promise of managerial positions, sharply magisterial from shop floor engineering and blue-collar workers (Wajcman, 2010). Take engineering for example an archetypal masculine culture, where mastery over technology is a source of both(prenominal) pleasure and power for the predominantly male profession. These images resonate with MIT computer hacker students. Though they would deny their culture is macho, the preoccupation with winning and subjection to increasingly wild tests make their world m ale in spirit and unfriendly to women. However that is not to say all women reject geek culture, nor that computer comprehension is universally coded as masculine (Wajcman, 2010). In Malaysia women argon well represented in computer science. Still Women in ICT sectors stand one to five in information technology electronic communication professions and managerial positions (Wajcman, 2010). Thus this brings me to my hypothesis that Information and communication technologies breed a culture of misogyny. Within this research it is shown that women are largely excluded from the technical design processes that shape the world we live in.In Ecofeminism (1993) authors Vandana Shiva, Maria Mies Critique and Evan Bond, they view the dominant stream of modern science as a ... ...the global economy. Information Technology for Development 14 (4) 262-279. DOI.org/10.1002/itdj.20098Gurumurthy, A. (2011). Feminist Visions of the Network Society. Development 54 (4), 464-469. doi 10.1057/dev.2011.8 2Hellman, H. (1996). A Toy for the Boys only? Reconsidering the gender Effects of Video Technology. European Journal of Communication 11(1) 5-32.Lee, M. (2006). Whats Missing in Feminist Research in New Information and Communication Technologies? Feminist Media Studies, 6 (2) 191-210. doi 10.1080/14680770600645168Wacjman, J. (2010). Feminist theories of technology. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 34, 143-152. doi10.1093/cje/ben057Wyatt, S. (2008). Feminism, Technology and the Information Society learning from the past, imagining the future. Information, Communication & Society, 11 (1) 111-130. doi 10.1080/13691180701859065