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Gender Relations and Technological Change in AsiaS ocial changes are just as dramatic as economic and technological transformation. Technological change can also facilitate social change, turning patriarchy into 'a contested domain, rather than a sphere of cultural reproduction, leading to fundamental redefinitions of gender relations, family and sexuality' (Castells, 2000: 2-3). In particular, advances in information technologies have the potential to change the organization of work. We will look at the effects of these and earlier technological changes in the areas of gender relations and cultural ceilings. Our major questions are: how are women affecting and have been affected by these wide-ranging technological advances? How do we understand the ongoing contradiction of development policy -being efficient and productive as well as pursuing social and gender equality and sustainable human development?

This article examines women's agency in the Information Technology (IT) industry and is based on field research in two cities in India: Bangalore and Delhi. We looked at both the software industry and IT-enabled services, particularly through the perceptions of women and men workers and managers within the IT industry. While a large number of women continue to work in gendered homes and work sites, balancing work and domestic responsibilities with little help from the men, they do, however, carry on an ongoing struggle to challenge embedded patriarchal relations within the family and in the industry. Conceding that there are socially sanctioned gender inequalities in the market, women prefer to work outside the home in an attempt to improve their social position and construct greater scope to enhance their agency, than be subject to family-based dependency and coercion.

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