"The authors follow the microwave's life trajectory from the design office to the factory and thence to the shops and household. Examining the different jobs women and men do, the different kinds of knowlege they contribute and the unequal importance they are ascribe in the evloution of the microwave, this book shows how technology relations continue to disadvantage women"--Back cover.

This innovative book demonstrates the making of gender and technology as comparable social processes, one helping shape the other. The authors take as an example the microwave oven, a recent innovation in domestic technology that neatly encapsulates the technology//gender relation. In the microwave, masculine engineering encounters an age old woman's technology: cooking. The authors show how the microwave begins as a state-of-the-art masculine technology, is translated in the retail trade into a `family' commodity, one of a range of domestic white goods, and eventually settles into the kitchen alongside other humble feminine appliances; unlike the old cooker, however, the microwave retains just a whiff of aftershave. The au

This innovative book demonstrates the making of gender and technology as comparable social processes, one helping shape the other. The authors take as an example the microwave oven, a recent innovation in domestic technology that neatly encapsulates the technology//gender relation. In the microwave, masculine engineering encounters an age old woman's technology: cooking. The authors show how the microwave begins as a state-of-the-art masculine technology, is translated in the retail trade into a `family' commodity, one of a range of domestic white goods, and eventually settles into the kitchen alongside other humble feminine appliances; unlike the old cooker, however, the microwave retains just a whiff of aftershave. The au

"The authors follow the microwave's life trajectory from the design office to the factory and thence to the shops and household. Examining the different jobs women and men do, the different kinds of knowlege they contribute and the unequal importance they are ascribe in the evloution of the microwave, this book shows how technology relations continue to disadvantage women"--Back cover.

This collection of articles from Gender and Development considers technologies of many kinds, including those intended to save womens labour, to enable them to control their fertility and to learn and communicate using computer technology.

McGaw; Joy Parr, Simon Fraser University.

Science has been gender biased for centuries across cultural contexts. Different ideological constructions of gender through different eras have restricted women's access to science. The twentieth century, especially its second half, witnessed certain important changes in terms of women's status in society. Gender and Science: Studies across Cultures includes essays by leading academics and researchers from different parts of the world, who discuss gender and science in their society and explore the relevance of gender theories. The book is divided into two broad sections. The first section provides conceptual reflections on gendered science and the second section examines the gender-science relationship using examples from various cultural contexts. This unique volume tries to answer several important questions such as these: Could science become free from gender biases? Could gender and science issues go beyond race, class, colonization and social and geographical distinctions? Are gender and science relations universal as assumed by the 'ethos of science' or vary with the culture? The book also tries to strike a balance between analyses of the gender dimension of science itself and the role of the wider social, economic and cultural factors. This interdisciplinary volume will be an important resource for graduate students and research scholars of gender studies, social history, psychology and sociology. Those interested in gender and science as well as cross-cultural issues will also find this book useful.