Computer dialogues : technology, gender and change

The thesis is a study of meetings between humans and computers; i.e. studying computers from a user perspective and a gender perspective within the context of a changing working life. The theoretical approach emphasises a parallel understanding of gender and technology: both are analysed as social and cultural constructs, and the analysis of the relationship between them must include several levels of understanding, holding that the relationship between the two has its strength from its many dimensions. On the structural level, technologies materialise a division of work into male and female domains. On the symbol level, technology is an expression of this division telling people where they belong, and by this sense of belonging technology is integrated in gendered identities. The computer means changing relationships to technology on all of these levels compared to previous mechanical machinery, an d it transgresses borders between different types of work and 'male' and 'female tasks'.