Gender and Technology
Cowan, Ruth Schwartz. 1979. "From Virginia Dare to Virginia Slims: Women and Technology in American Life." Technology and Culture. The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the Society for the History
of Technology. Vol. 20, No. 1. (Jan.). pp. 51-63. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3103111. Also available at http://www.colby.edu/sts/st112/Virgina_Slims_Cowan.pdf and a local copy. See page 56.
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 dominated industry. Skilled, male
hands 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 worked 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 elements of
garment manufacturing 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
- There 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)(Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt)
- 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.
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Wednesday, January 29, 2014 9:42