Making Women Visible: Gender Spaces and ICT Work in the Philippines

Abstract

Studies of technology in developing countries have addressed the conundrum of 'invisible women' by focusing either on women-dominated assembly work or on women as users. This article looks at the social shaping of technology and tries to render the women in certain arenas of information technology (IT) visible. Underlying the emergence of this group of women IT workers are 'user-friendly technologies,' horizontal learning structures, and the hybridity of some arenas of IT. After an examination of some of these issues, the article goes on to examine the creation of 'female spaces' in IT through an analysis of the gendered social distribution of knowledge, and the compensation structures and social constructs that accompany and affect the changes in the gender division of labor. The article shows that within the international division of labor and the gender-based division of labor, IT in the Philippines still offers scope for and supports the creation of 'female spaces'.