Women Encounter Technology
Changing Patterns of Employment in the Third World

This collection explores the effects of new technologies on women's employment and on the nature of women's work in the Third World.

This collection explores the effects of new technologies on women's employment and on the nature of women's work in the Third World. The challenges women face in adjusting to new technologies in less affluent communities are discussed along with their responses and organising strategies. Contributors outline the roles that family, ideology, state policies and trade union structures can play in distributing information technology-related employment between women and men. The differences in the interests and needs of different groups of women are highlighted, challenging the concept of a monolithic, specifically feminine vision of technology and science. A critique of postmodernism and ecofeminism is also provided. In looking at the impact of information technology on the working lives of women in the third world, this volume begins to redress the imbalance of literature which has so far tended to focus mainly on the experiences of first world countries. Presenting fresh research from leading academics from around the world this volume lays a vital foundation for further debate and research in this important area.