Gender, Paid Work and Information Technology

This paper considers the interaction of gender and information technologies within the sphere of paid work. It outlines the debates and empirical work that have been conducted over the last decade to address issues of IT in the workplace: how IT has both contributed to and possibly altered the character of gendered work, in particular work in which women are concentrated; and how it has also itself been moulded by the gendered nature of the labour market and labour process. it then brietly examines the policy implications of these debates and research; it looks at initiatives which have aimed to address the technological change process in the workplace and raises for debate questions about the extent to which such developments succeed in getting to the heart of gender inequalities in the sphere of IT-based work. It also considers what we as academics, trade unionists and IT practitioners can contribute to the process of analysis and change.