Managing the technology but not the organization: women and career in engineering

Abstract This paper focuses on gender and technology in the organization. It considers some of the difficulties experienced by women building careers as professional engineers in a high technology industrial organization in England. Using career history data from 15 women engineers, the paper examines the experience of gender in the organization and the attempts by the women to manage gender relations. The paper argues that the difficulties were not associated with the culture of engineering work itself: the women could manage the technology. The problems lay rather in the organization itself. The gendered expectations and processes within the organization constituted the real dilemma for women's careers.