‘Gendering the digital’: The impact of gender and technology perspectives on the sociological imagination

Abstract

This chapter makes the case for a gendering of the digital age, arguing for increased recognition of the gendered dimensions of the digital in everyday life. Over the years, a large corpus of theoretical and empirical work on gender and technology has emerged with valuable contributions from feminists and sociologists alike (Wajcman, 2004, 2007; Wyatt, 2008). This work has had some notable impacts, including theorising the social shaping of technology through developing understandings of the mutual shaping of gender relations and technology; framing debates on gendered identities and technology and opening up the gendered dimensions of ICT work, access and use. Significantly, some of this work has pushed forward political agendas for gender equality, in particular, by focusing on women’s agency and use of ICTs for emancipatory ends. Yet, in spite of these contributions, and the evidence provided, gender is often rendered invisible in macro-theorising about social and technological change and indeed in many empirical studies of ICT use. This chapter aims to address this omission by asking critical questions such as: in what ways is gender being reworked in everyday life in the digital age? How do we interpret and explain contemporary complexities and contradictions of gendered technology access and use? Why is gender frequently invisible in mainstream digital age theorising? How do we explain the persistence of deep-rooted gendered inequalities in the digital age? And, what future research pathways might be developed to address such issues?.