"Male Designs on Technology"

Judy Wajcman's chapter on Male Designs was extremely uninspiring! I wasn't sure what motivated her research even though she states that "the point was to identify major areas of gender inequality and oppression, and seek to change them." I was more interested in the way women relate and interact to technology and that wasn't realy addressed. Wajcman asserts that "post-industrial theorists concentrated on hierarchies of class, rather than those of gender and, like thier predecessors, the new theorists of technology also fail to consider whether this technological revolution might have a differential impact on women and men. While the common theme is that everything in the digital future will be different, it is not clear if the social relations of gender will also be different becuse the question is seldom raised. While the optimistic commentators on the digital revolution promise freedom, empowerment and wealth, rarely do they show any consciousness of the relationship between technology and gender." I believe that there may be very real differences among genders as it relates to technology and its advances but I also believe that those differences shouldn't hinder the freedom, empowerment and wealth of all people. "Many studies identified the structural barriers to women's participation, looking at sex discrimination in employment and the kind of socialization and education that girls receive which channel them away from studying mathematics and science. Schooling, youth cultures, the family and the mass media all transmit meanings and values that identify masculinity with machines and technological competence." While I do agree that boys and girls are socialized differently, I also think that despite that socialization girls and boys can develop preferences and skill sets outside of their "normal" gender "role." Therefore, girls can contribute to technological advances just as easily as boys and can enjoy the "masculinity of technology." I was unsure as to why the author felt like women must forsake their femininity if they enter the world of technology if its systems aren't emasculated. There are women who don't desire a husband and children and prefer the long hours of research and to suggest otherwise is misleading. "Technology was seen as an extension of patriarchal and capitalist domination. As a result, feminist approaches mainly dismissed technoscience as inherently patriarchal and malignant." I don't agree with this line of reasoning and think that it fails to utilize the role that women can play even in a perceived patriarchal technological existence.