Technology and Masculinity

Abstract

Investigating women and technology may seem like a paradoxas technology is a word with masculine connotations. Feminists have made efforts to correct this image by revealing that women do in fact work with technology, as users and also as inventors. The problem is that such activities on the part of women are made invisible. But the question remains why they become invisible. Is the answer that technology is so closely connected to men and masculinity that activities within this field are categorized as something else when they appear in the heads and hands of women? It is certainly important to reverse the image of women as ignorant and non-existent in technical matters, visualized in titles such as Machina ex Dea (Rotschild, 1983). Still, there is also evidence that men are dominant at most levels of technical developments and implementations, meaning that women's experiences with technology are in many ways 'created in the image of man' (Lie et al., 1988). Therefore, to understand women's relationship to technology we also have to study men and masculinities.My interest in the connection between technology and masculinity arose from studies of women's inferior status at work. My question is whether technology in general, or specific technologies, are important to male gender identity. If so, this adds to the understanding of why it is so difficult to make changes in the sexual division of labour, because meddling with the distribution of tools and tasks then means meddling with gender identity.Gender appears in social life in different forms on different societal

Changing femininity The social construction of women farmers in Norway

“…The tractor is therefore a strong masculine symbol (Brandth 1993). Lie (1991Lie ( , 1992 has shown that because technology functions as a symbol of masculinity, it becomes a vital source of masculine gender identity. Machines are a part of the picture men show of themselves, and the machines tell us that the persons are in possession of qualities required for a man (Lie 1992).…”

Undergraduate STEM Instructors' Teacher Identities and Discourses on Student Gender Expression and Equity

“…This position therefore also 'queers' the heterosexist assumptions underpinning dualistic notions of the sex/ gender binary . (p. 778) Research has suggested that in STEM educational communities, particularly in engineering, gender discourses are often rigid and may hinder women's acceptance, engagement, and persistence by limiting the identities and actions that are commonsensical in these settings (Henwood, 1998;Lynch & Nowosenetz, 2009;Phipps, 2007;Stonyer, 2002;Wolfe & Powell, 2009) -namely, prevailing heteronormative, gendered discourses connect expertise in science and engineering with masculinity and construct binaries which link incompetence and lack of expertise in science and engineering with femininity (De Welde & Laursen, 2011;Harding, 1991;Lie, 1995;Wajcman, 1991). In Western culture, powerful, culturally gendered disciplinary practices produce docile, feminine bodies: acceptable social positions for women often include displays of "frailty, fear, and incompetence" (Goffman, 1977, p. 312), and these practices become even more pronounced, and reinforced, in the specific institutional context of STEM.…”

The re-production process of gender bias: a case of ICT professors through recruitment in a gender-neutral country

“…Gender symbolism means that the connection between masculinity and technology does not state that technology reflects the capacities of specific (real) men, but more probably images of hegemonic masculinities (Harding 1986, Lie 1995. Masculinity and femininity are abstract frames of reference; they are used when the description of someone's behaviour and skills is made through this frame.…”

“…The connection is reproduced in everyday practices. For example, when fairly recent descriptions of men with computer were made, the frame of reference included engagement of superior knowledge and intellectual capacities as well as mastering and power that may strengthen a man's masculine image, whereas women with computing science knowledge and computer skills were connected to typewriting and office work (Lie 1995).…”

“…However, in the evaluation process when the evaluators know the gender of the applicants, male applicants might be valued higher than female one with similar CVs, as Steinpreis et al (1999) prove in their empirical study. This bias is based on the predisposition which connects masculinity to technology and professionalism, and that strengthens the evaluators' impression of male candidates' competence (e.g., Lie 1995, Steinpreis et al 1999.…”