Feminist Theory in Technical Communication

Abstract

This study extends the corpus of an earlier qualitative content analysis about women and feminism and identifies the knowledge claims and themes in the 20 articles that discuss gender differences. Knowledge claims are reflected in expressions such as androgyny; natural collaborators; hierarchical, dialogic, and asymmetrical modes; web; connected knowers; different voice; ethic of care; ethic of objectivity; continuous with others; connected to the world; the cultural divide; visual metaphor; andgender-free science. Built from knowledge claims, the themes in the 20 articles include gender differences in language use, learning, and knowledge construction; gender differences in collaboration; and reviews of research about gender differences and political calls for action. Although the 20 articles provide little support for the existence of gender differences, by introducing, discussing, testing, and revising new ideas about women and feminism, they serve as an example of the process of knowledge accumulation and remodeling in technical communication.

Women and Feminism in Technical Communication—An Update

“…This study identifies and analyzes articles with keywords in their titles about women and feminism published in five technical communication journals from 1998 through mid-2004. Because the data collection and analysis procedures are described thoroughly in previous articles [1,2], we will provide only a brief summary here.…”

Disrupting the Past to Disrupt the Future: An Antenarrative of Technical Communication

“…This surge emerged mostly in the form of special issues in the Journal of Business and Technical Communication (on the cultural turn in 1991), IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (on gendered assumptions of rationality in 1992), and Technical Communication Quarterly (on social understanding of gender in 1994 and recovered histories of women in technical communication in 1997). Throughout the decade, scholars (primarily female scholars) argued for a correction of history to eliminate the exclusion of women and women's work (Durack, 1997;Kynell, Tebeaux, & Allen, 1997) and an awareness of how gender colors our assumptions about rationality, knowledge making, and research (Smith & Thompson, 2002;Thompson, 2004). Scholars invested in feminist theory and methodology highlight its promise for informing and improving the field (Bosley, 1994;Gurak & Bayer, 2004;Koerber, 2000;Lay, 1991;Sauer, 1993).…”

“Just Roll Your Mouse Over Me”: Designing Virtual Women for Customer Service on the Web

“…(p. 266) The postmodern perspective has been gaining traction in technical communication research. Isabelle Thompson and Elizabeth Overman Smith write in their 2006 review of research on women and gender in technical communication (see also Thompson, 1999;Smith & Thompson, 2002) that "the current focus has moved from a moderate or radical concern for inclusion to a postmodern concern for critique of visual, verbal, and mechanical 'technologies,' which previously were not considered political" (p. 184). For Thompson and Smith (2006), postmodernism in gender and technology studies assumes that "sexism appears in all 'technologies' and is manifested in all of our behaviors and attitudes" (p. 196).…”