Ungendering Technology

Book excerpt: This book offers fresh insight into women’s mastery of technologies commonly associated with men, with important implications for institutional efforts to identify and support technical proficiency among girls and women. The work is structured across five original case studies featuring: breast cancer survivors in Newfoundland who constructed a wooden dragon boat using hand and power tools; Egyptian women who used information and communication technologies for political action during the Revolution of 2011; pioneer female audio engineers in the United States working in live concert and studio venues; U.S. female commercial airline pilots who mastered the complexity of flying large aircraft; and a university-educated woman working in sewer maintenance and repair for the City of Detroit in the 1970s. The case studies capture women’s own voices and present a range of historical and geographic locations. A major contribution of this volume is the multidisciplinary analytical framework used to explain women’s motivation to engage with non-traditional technologies, the role of peer and political support in encouraging persistence, and informal as well as formal knowledge and skill acquisition. Above all, it is a story of women's empowerment - individually and collectively. This is a unique book suitable for undergraduates and graduates in the fields of Women's and Gender Studies; Science, Technology and Society (STS) Studies; Engineering Education; and Adult Education.