Gender and Technology

Ruth Schwartz Cowan, in "The Social Shaping of Technology" (MacKenzie and Wajcman)

Social relationships and patterns of inequality can be seen as exerting significant influences on technological development

Gender Inequality as a force which accelerates technological innovation and change: Late 19th Century Cigar making Industry

Cigar making in the U.S. was a factory based, male dominate industry. Skilled male hand fabricated cigars in centralized, urban factories.

1869: Strike

Factory owners turn to female immigrants- unskilled females who utilized simple molding tools (characteristic of the process in Europe).

The women work at lower wages, and in their homes- broke the strike.

Franco-Prussian War led to greater influx of female workers, and coupled with more strikes- led to a new technology of cigar making.

Expanded tenement system.

Led to the introduction of more (simple) machinery which could be operated by the women.

Women worked for less money, and were unorganized.

By 1895- handwork had all but disappeared.

Gender as a factor that inhibits technological change: The Garment Industry.

The hooking up of sewing machines to centralized power sources in the late 19th Century was virtually the last innovation in the sewing industry. Other element of garment manufacture have been automated, but the sewing process has lagged behind.

Expense related to automating the sewing process- great.

The traditional labor of women has been exploited

The seems to be a distinctive succession of women's groups who occupy positions at this end of the productive process. (Cheap and traditionally acceptable labor)

Farm girls migrating to the cities in the late 19th Century

Central European female immigrants

Southern Blacks women migrating to northern cities

Puerto Rican and Hispanic women

Chinese and Vietnamese women

Skilled, and often organized- still lower wages than other machine operators.

Economics of gender inequality has kept the technology of the sewing industry static.