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Making Technology Masculine: Men, Women, and Modern Machines in America, 1870-1945
Abstract
To say that technology is male comes as no surprise, but the claim that its history is a short one strikes a new note. Making Technology Masculine: Men, Women, and Modern Machines in America, 1870-1945 maps the historical process through which men laid claims to technology as their exclusive terrain. It also explores how women contested this ascendancy of the male discourse and engineered alternative plots. From the moral gymnasium of the shop floor to the staging grounds of World's Fairs, engineers, inventors, social scientists, activists, and novelists emplotted and questioned technology as our modern male myth. Oldenziel recounts the history of technology - both as intellectual construct and material practice - by analyzing these struggles. Drawing on a broad range of sources, she explains why male machines rather than female fabrics have become the modern markers of technology. She shows how technology developed as a narrative production of modern manliness, allowing women little room for negotiation
... For this segment of the theory synthesis (Jaakkola, 2020), I draw on the cri�cal research on the engineering educa�on and professional culture, which has been shown to be a barrier to broader inclusion of not only neurodivergent and disabled students, but also those with other underrepresented iden��es like gender/sex, race or ethnicity, sexuality, and other iden��es like being a first-genera�on or low-income student (Blosser, 2017;Cech, 2013;Cech & Waidzunas, 2011;Faulkner, 2007;Foor & Walden, 2009;Haverkamp et al., 2019;Heybach & Pickup, 2017;Godfrey & Parker, 2021;Liptow, et al., 2016;Riley, 2013Riley, , 2017Robert, 2023;Robert & Leydens, 2023;Slaton, 2010Slaton, , 2013Stonyer, 2001;Svyantek, 2016). I incorporate engineering history (Frehill;2004;Oldenziel, 1999), empirical research on underrepresented student experiences of exclusions (Blosser, 2017;Cech, 2013;Cech & Waidzunas, 2011;Faulkner, 2007;Foor & Walden, 2009;Haverkamp et al., 2019;Godfrey & Parker, 2021;Robert, 2023), and conceptual and empirical papers examining cultural values like epistemological rigidity (Baille & Armstrong, 2013;Bucciarelli, 2009;Cech, 2013Cech, , 2014Douglas et al, 2010;Godfrey & Parker, 2010;Heybach & Pickup, 2017), and extreme rigor, weeding out, and the meritocracy (Cech, 2013;Riley, 2017;Robert, 2023;Robert & Leydens, 2023;Seron et al., 2018) that have been iden�fied as problema�c to inclusion and access. Several papers have pointed out the lack of visibility of disabili�es in engineering educa�on among faculty, students, and staff generally (Riley, 2017;Slaton, 2013;Svyantek, 2016), while a few have focused on neurodivergent student experiences in engineering educa�on (Chrysochoou et al., 2022;Cueller et al., 2022;Kouo et al., 2021;Robert, 2023;Taylor et al., 2019). ...
... Secondly, the culture of extreme rigor has been iden�fied as aliena�ng and as crea�ng the condi�ons for burn out, exhaus�on, and anxiety and fear about asking for help due to fears of being seen as not qualified and weeded out (Cech, 2013;Riley, 2017;Robert & Leydens, 2023;Seron et al., 2018). Examina�ons of the culture of extreme rigor show its preference for abled-bodied, white, heterosexual males (Cech, 2022) and the historical exclusionary founda�ons of this preference (Frehill, 2004;Oldenziel, 1999). Research also shows that uniquely to engineering educa�on, engineering students adopt and assimilate into the culture of extreme rigor and compete with their peers in terms of who is suffering more in terms of workload, stress, lack of sleep, and other factors, thereby reproducing the culture amongst themselves (Cech, 2014;Robert, 2023;Robert & Leydens, 2023). ...
... These actors (scientists, engineers, managers, bureaucrats, politicians, consumers) make choices among a given number of technological alternatives, based on ideological, social, economic, and political considerations (Noble, 1979;Pacey, 1999). With regard to these decision-making processes, feminist STS research in a wide range of technological issue areas "has clearly demonstrated that the marginalization of women from the technological community has a profound influence on the design, technical content and use of artefacts" (Wajcman, 2010, p. 149; see also Lerman & Oldenziel, 2003;Oldenziel, 1999). ...
Traditionally, international relations (IR) conceptualized technology primarily as a static, neutral, and passive tool, which emanates from impenetrable black boxes outside the international system. According to this predominant instrumental understanding of technology, IR "added" technology as a residual variable to existing explanatory frameworks. Consequently, qualitative systemic change-as well as continuity-could only be addressed within existing models and their respective core variables. Subsequently, traditional approaches increasingly experienced difficulties to adequately capture and explain empirically observable systemic changes in the form of growing interdependence, globalization, or trans-nationalization, as well as a plethora of technology-induced new policy challenges. Contrary to traditional conceptualizations, a growing number of scholars have instead embarked on a project to open the "black box" by redefining technology as a highly political and integral core component of global affairs that shapes and itself is shaped by global economics, politics, and culture. A rapidly growing body of theoretically diverse interdisciplinary literature systematically incorporates insights from science and technology studies (STS) to provide a more nuanced understanding of how technology, the global system, and its myriad actors mutually constitute and impact one another.
... While these stereotypes render feminized professions unattractive to men, those who do enter these fields often enjoy preferential access to power positions. However, if the products and services offered by these professions are perceived as necessary and not freely available (as care work in patriarchal societies is often provided as unpaid labor by women), developing labor-saving technologies for these professions might be seen as a goal (see also Oldenziel 2004). Meanwhile, women who successfully complete training and enter the technology workforce are often discouraged by an entrenched culture of male dominance. ...
This chapter examines the ethical implications of automating translation through the lens of the ethics of care, focusing on the gendered dimensions and patriarchal influences in the development of machine translation (MT) technologies. It highlights how gender stereotypes prevalent in patriarchal societies have shaped both the perception and evolution of the translation profession, influencing MT systems. By adopting an ethics of care, the chapter contrasts the dominant ideologies guiding translation and interpreting studies (TIS) and MT efforts. It critiques the neoliberal focus on efficiency and profitability, and the logics of capitalist realism, and explores the biases embedded within the implicit theories on translation underlying MT. The chapter argues that understanding the role of stereotypes in technological advancements allows for a critical engagement with the narratives shaping perceptions, behaviors, and societal structures. It consequently calls for TIS to further develop the epistemology required to reveal the oppressive practices embedded in MT and to engage critically with developers, policymakers, and societies to raise awareness of the risks and implications of the prevailing ideologies in MT development. Ultimately, it advocates for an inclusive approach that amplifies the voices traditionally silenced by patriarchal systems, ensuring equitable participation in the benefits of automated translation technologies.
... Technology has long been associated with masculinity in macro studies of science and development. Men are seen as both the producers and users of technology (Cockburn 1992;Lohan and Faulkner 2004;Oldenziel 1999). In the context of domestic technologies, men continue to be viewed as the producers, while women are typically regarded as the users. ...
Recently, studies have begun examining men’s interaction with domestic space to explore changing forms of masculinity and domesticity, arguing that housework has become a leisure activity for men, with domestic technologies serving as tools (toys) for them to engage with. In this article, we explore how men in Turkish television commercials of domestic technologies are portrayed and how these portrayals construct and reconstruct discourses of domesticity and masculinity. We aim to understand men’s relationship with masculinity, home and domestic work in these commercials. Alongside leisure and fun, we explore the construction of discourses of masculinity and domesticity through specific themes such as the naughty scientist, the self-seeking purchaser, and the flirtatious chef. We argue that seeing more men on screen does not democratise domesticity since the equal share of workload at home is still far from being realised even in these portrayals. We also argue that domesticity is aestheticized with the participation of men and technology. Finally, women are used as instruments by men in reconstructing their masculinity through heterosexuality.
... Given that domestic space constitutes an important area for the (re)production of gender roles (Pink 2004), and that automated homes are designed to perform traditionally feminised work Strengers and Kennedy 2020), feminist scholars underline that smart home technologies hold a significant potential to disrupt the everyday, stereotypically organised life of households (Aagaard and Madsen 2022). Smartification can thus contribute to the redefinition of gender binaries, as well as dislocating the taken-for-granted affinity between men and machines/technologies, a result of the historical cultural construction of gender (Wajcman 2010, 144; see also Oldenziel 1999). Nevertheless, empirical research complicates this picture, by consistently showing that -notwithstanding their novel functionalities and usefulness in the household -smart technologies, rather than promoting gender equality, add to the bolstering of gender divisions and their respectively ascribed societal roles (e.g. ...
Drawing on feminist technology studies’ interventions in current
research on smart homes, this article offers an analysis of recent
cultural artifacts that – in contrast to the predominant marketized
narratives infused with androcentricity and biased toward a
reaffirmation of stereotypical gender roles – dislocate the
conventional power relations within the technologized domestic
space. The article elaborates an original concept of a ‘wicked
vestal’, which may serve as a heuristic tool to capture the
revisionist dynamics operating within (and partly enabled by) the
technology-imbued home. The article argues, that creative
subversions of the mainstream discourse on smartification offered
by literary/artistic/cinematic products may add nuance to the
existent discussions on smart technologies, offering a glimpse
into the processes of a (dis)harmonious integration of technology
and domesticity, alerting consumers of smart devices to, and
possibly readying them for, the precariousness lurking in an
unpredictable, capitalism-ridden techno-future.
This collection critically examines the practical impacts of machine translation (MT) through the lens of an ethics of care. It addresses the ideological issues in MT development linked to social hierarchies and explores the transformative potential of care ethics for more equitable technological progress.
The volume explores the ideological constructs behind MT as a labor-saving technology, how these constructs are embedded in both its development and social reception, and how they manifest in biased outputs. The chapters cover the cultural roots of translation automation, its legal and political implications, and the needs of various stakeholders. These stakeholders include lay users, Indigenous communities, institutions, educators, and professionals in an increasingly multicultural society. The book also addresses individuals who require translation daily with varying degrees of familiarity with their own translation needs and the tools available. Through critical engagement with the social impacts of MT, the book advocates for an epistemology of care to foster social equity and democratic values in technological progress.
This book will interest scholars in translation studies, law, and sociotechnology, as well as practicing translators, policymakers, technologists, and activists seeking ethical and inclusive approaches to machine translation and technological development.
This review essay examines an art exhibition that envisions the future infrastructure of quantum computing and the sociopolitical and aesthetic visions it might bring about. Visitors are encouraged to reflect on past concepts of computing and the transformative power of technology. The exhibit tackles the challenge that computer-based infrastructures—the infrastructure of infrastructures—poses for the historiography of computing. This review places the exhibit's perspective of quantum computing infrastructures within the broader context of computing and information history.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.