Helen Richardson
Biographic Data
| ID | 341496 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Helen Richardson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Helen |
| FAMILY NAME | Richardson |
| SIGNATURE | RICHARDSON H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Salford |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7036-5476 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 128 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Gender matters and decent work in the outdoor sector
In this paper, we have developed an original framework to interrogate policy concerning the outdoor sector, giving thought to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 5 (gender equality) and 8 (decent work), emphasising a shift from precarious to decent work in our investigation. Employing qualitative content analysis, we found the discourse of policy to be masculinised and heteronormative, focussed on growth, with limited reflection on gender mat…
Gender segregation, underemployment and subjective well-being in the UK labour market
This article argues that gender segregation influences patterns of underemployment and the relationships that underemployment has with the subjective well-being of men and women. Previous studies have paid little attention to how gender segregation shapes underemployment, an increasingly prominent feature of the UK and European labour markets since the economic crisis of 2008. Using data from the UK Annual Population Surveys, this article examine…
They can't be the buffer any longer
This article reasserts the value of the examination of class relations. It does so via a case study of tax-processing sites within HM Revenue and Customs, focusing on the changes wrought by the alterations to labour and supervisory processes implemented under the banner of 'lean production'. It concentrates on the transformation of front-line managers, as their tasks moved from those that required tax knowledge and team support to those that narr…
Taxing Times
The prevailing economic and budgetary climate is intensifying the search for methods and practices aimed at generating efficiencies in public sector provision. This paper investigates the increasingly popular bundle of techniques operating under the generic descriptor of lean , which promises to improve operational quality processes while simultaneously reducing cost. It offers a critical appraisal of lean as a fashionable component of public sec…
Stressed out of my box
Occupational health and safety (OHS) is under-researched in the sociology of work and employment. This deficit is most pronounced for white-collar occupations. Despite growing awareness of the significance of psychosocial conditions - notably stress - and musculoskeletal disorders, white-collar work is considered by conventional OHS discourse to be 'safe'. This study's locus is clerical processing in the UK public sector, specifically Her Majesty…
The gender pay gap in the ICT labour market
This paper addresses the issues surrounding gender pay gaps focusing on the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector of the labour market. Reporting on research conducted in the UK and New Zealand (NZ) we adopted a mixed method approach using comparable qualitative and quantitative research techniques to investigate pay issues amongst women working in ICT in the UK and NZ. Our findings reveal commonalities of experience and some interest…
The back office goes global
This article explores a neglected aspect of IT-enabled service work: the back office. The fieldwork study reveals how back office service work has been identified as suitable for ongoing reorganization and reconfiguration as firms respond to the pressures of contemporary capitalism. The article focuses on standardization as a means of facilitating organizational restructuring into shared service centres as highly skilled back office work is refra…
All they lack is a chain’
The adaptation of lean techniques in public services is viewed as an innovative managerialist response to government demands for more efficient services amidst large reductions in public spending. This paper explores workers' experiences of the impact of lean on work organisation and control and provides new insights into developments within contemporary back office clerical work
Technofeminism - By Judy Wajcman
Gendered Futures? Women, the ICT Workplace and Stories of the Future
This article investigates stories of the future in relation to women in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector through the development of a theoretical and methodological stance towards the future. Given concerns about the future of the ICT sector in terms of skills shortages and gender imbalances, an understanding of how female ICT professionals view this future is vital. Using data gathered from female ICT professionals in t…
Gender matters in the global outsourcing of service work
This paper provides a gendered analysis of the outsourcing of service work to developing economies taking, as illustration, call centres, shared service centres and the general ICT sector. The paper challenges the suggestion that changes in global capitalism, facilitated by ICT‐enabled employment, offer new opportunities that benefit women, and suggests a degree of caution is needed before assuming a reduction of gender inequalities
Celebrating Heterogeneity
This paper introduces key findings from a large-scale, online survey of women in the ICT industry across England undertaken between October 2004 and October 2005. Placed in a theoretical framework which draws on critical perspectives from within information systems (IS), and the sociology of gender and of technology, the authors examine some of the issues faced by female ICT professionals. The context for this paper is the ongoing under-represent…
Is Success and Failure—the Problem of Scale
In the midst of Implementing Electronic Government (IEG), the almost knee‐jerk reaction of our political elite seems to be to embrace hugely ambitious Information Systems (IS) solutions to public‐sector operations. Problem after problem has been viewed as solvable by throwing some big IT at it. However hindsight and a wealth of evidence and examples shows that overly large‐scale public‐sector IT projects do not work and persistently end in failur…
Space Invaders—Time Raiders
This paper discusses the domestication of ICTs in the UK, using a critical lens to focus in on ICT use by families and households drawing on a 5 year longitudinal study. Analysis concentrates on how ICTs are embedded into gendered households, how issues of gendered technologies are manifested in the everyday experiences of women, enmeshing ICT use for work, study, and leisure into domestic family life. The social, political, economic, and histori…
Inclusion Through the Ages? Gender, ICT Workplaces, and Life Stage Experiences in England
Introduction
A decade of neglect
This paper presents the case that research on gender and information systems (IS), from both quantitative and qualitative traditions, is problematic as the concept of gender continues to remain under‐theorised. This will be elaborated upon with a critique of some recent qualitative and quantitative research papers that have been published in key IS journals within a ten‐year period
Innovations in parenting support
This paper describes the evaluation of a three year Initiative run by the YMCA. The aim of the Initiative was to set up 30 different projects in YMCA centres in England, to provide help and support to the parents of teenagers. The Initiative was evaluated by the Trust for the Study of Adolescence. Funding was agreed for 29 projects, which included group‐based courses, ‘Dads and Lads’ projects, mediation schemes, transition evenings, and families …
All they lack is a chain’
The adaptation of lean techniques in public services is viewed as an innovative managerialist response to government demands for more efficient services amidst large reductions in public spending. This paper explores workers' experiences of the impact of lean on work organisation and control and provides new insights into developments within contemporary back office clerical work
Stressed out of my box
Occupational health and safety (OHS) is under-researched in the sociology of work and employment. This deficit is most pronounced for white-collar occupations. Despite growing awareness of the significance of psychosocial conditions - notably stress - and musculoskeletal disorders, white-collar work is considered by conventional OHS discourse to be 'safe'. This study's locus is clerical processing in the UK public sector, specifically Her Majesty…
Gender segregation, underemployment and subjective well-being in the UK labour market
This article argues that gender segregation influences patterns of underemployment and the relationships that underemployment has with the subjective well-being of men and women. Previous studies have paid little attention to how gender segregation shapes underemployment, an increasingly prominent feature of the UK and European labour markets since the economic crisis of 2008. Using data from the UK Annual Population Surveys, this article examine…
The back office goes global
This article explores a neglected aspect of IT-enabled service work: the back office. The fieldwork study reveals how back office service work has been identified as suitable for ongoing reorganization and reconfiguration as firms respond to the pressures of contemporary capitalism. The article focuses on standardization as a means of facilitating organizational restructuring into shared service centres as highly skilled back office work is refra…
They can't be the buffer any longer
This article reasserts the value of the examination of class relations. It does so via a case study of tax-processing sites within HM Revenue and Customs, focusing on the changes wrought by the alterations to labour and supervisory processes implemented under the banner of 'lean production'. It concentrates on the transformation of front-line managers, as their tasks moved from those that required tax knowledge and team support to those that narr…
A decade of neglect
This paper presents the case that research on gender and information systems (IS), from both quantitative and qualitative traditions, is problematic as the concept of gender continues to remain under‐theorised. This will be elaborated upon with a critique of some recent qualitative and quantitative research papers that have been published in key IS journals within a ten‐year period
Taxing Times
The prevailing economic and budgetary climate is intensifying the search for methods and practices aimed at generating efficiencies in public sector provision. This paper investigates the increasingly popular bundle of techniques operating under the generic descriptor of lean , which promises to improve operational quality processes while simultaneously reducing cost. It offers a critical appraisal of lean as a fashionable component of public sec…
Gendered Futures? Women, the ICT Workplace and Stories of the Future
This article investigates stories of the future in relation to women in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector through the development of a theoretical and methodological stance towards the future. Given concerns about the future of the ICT sector in terms of skills shortages and gender imbalances, an understanding of how female ICT professionals view this future is vital. Using data gathered from female ICT professionals in t…
Gender matters in the global outsourcing of service work
This paper provides a gendered analysis of the outsourcing of service work to developing economies taking, as illustration, call centres, shared service centres and the general ICT sector. The paper challenges the suggestion that changes in global capitalism, facilitated by ICT‐enabled employment, offer new opportunities that benefit women, and suggests a degree of caution is needed before assuming a reduction of gender inequalities
The gender pay gap in the ICT labour market
This paper addresses the issues surrounding gender pay gaps focusing on the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector of the labour market. Reporting on research conducted in the UK and New Zealand (NZ) we adopted a mixed method approach using comparable qualitative and quantitative research techniques to investigate pay issues amongst women working in ICT in the UK and NZ. Our findings reveal commonalities of experience and some interest…
Is Success and Failure—the Problem of Scale
In the midst of Implementing Electronic Government (IEG), the almost knee‐jerk reaction of our political elite seems to be to embrace hugely ambitious Information Systems (IS) solutions to public‐sector operations. Problem after problem has been viewed as solvable by throwing some big IT at it. However hindsight and a wealth of evidence and examples shows that overly large‐scale public‐sector IT projects do not work and persistently end in failur…
Innovations in parenting support
This paper describes the evaluation of a three year Initiative run by the YMCA. The aim of the Initiative was to set up 30 different projects in YMCA centres in England, to provide help and support to the parents of teenagers. The Initiative was evaluated by the Trust for the Study of Adolescence. Funding was agreed for 29 projects, which included group‐based courses, ‘Dads and Lads’ projects, mediation schemes, transition evenings, and families …
A decade of neglect
This paper presents the case that research on gender and information systems (IS), from both quantitative and qualitative traditions, is problematic as the concept of gender continues to remain under‐theorised. This will be elaborated upon with a critique of some recent qualitative and quantitative research papers that have been published in key IS journals within a ten‐year period
Space Invaders—Time Raiders
This paper discusses the domestication of ICTs in the UK, using a critical lens to focus in on ICT use by families and households drawing on a 5 year longitudinal study. Analysis concentrates on how ICTs are embedded into gendered households, how issues of gendered technologies are manifested in the everyday experiences of women, enmeshing ICT use for work, study, and leisure into domestic family life. The social, political, economic, and histori…
Inclusion Through the Ages? Gender, ICT Workplaces, and Life Stage Experiences in England
Introduction
Celebrating Heterogeneity
This paper introduces key findings from a large-scale, online survey of women in the ICT industry across England undertaken between October 2004 and October 2005. Placed in a theoretical framework which draws on critical perspectives from within information systems (IS), and the sociology of gender and of technology, the authors examine some of the issues faced by female ICT professionals. The context for this paper is the ongoing under-represent…
Is Success and Failure—the Problem of Scale
In the midst of Implementing Electronic Government (IEG), the almost knee‐jerk reaction of our political elite seems to be to embrace hugely ambitious Information Systems (IS) solutions to public‐sector operations. Problem after problem has been viewed as solvable by throwing some big IT at it. However hindsight and a wealth of evidence and examples shows that overly large‐scale public‐sector IT projects do not work and persistently end in failur…
Gendered Futures? Women, the ICT Workplace and Stories of the Future
This article investigates stories of the future in relation to women in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector through the development of a theoretical and methodological stance towards the future. Given concerns about the future of the ICT sector in terms of skills shortages and gender imbalances, an understanding of how female ICT professionals view this future is vital. Using data gathered from female ICT professionals in t…
Gender matters in the global outsourcing of service work
This paper provides a gendered analysis of the outsourcing of service work to developing economies taking, as illustration, call centres, shared service centres and the general ICT sector. The paper challenges the suggestion that changes in global capitalism, facilitated by ICT‐enabled employment, offer new opportunities that benefit women, and suggests a degree of caution is needed before assuming a reduction of gender inequalities
Technofeminism - By Judy Wajcman
All they lack is a chain’
The adaptation of lean techniques in public services is viewed as an innovative managerialist response to government demands for more efficient services amidst large reductions in public spending. This paper explores workers' experiences of the impact of lean on work organisation and control and provides new insights into developments within contemporary back office clerical work
The gender pay gap in the ICT labour market
This paper addresses the issues surrounding gender pay gaps focusing on the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector of the labour market. Reporting on research conducted in the UK and New Zealand (NZ) we adopted a mixed method approach using comparable qualitative and quantitative research techniques to investigate pay issues amongst women working in ICT in the UK and NZ. Our findings reveal commonalities of experience and some interest…
The back office goes global
This article explores a neglected aspect of IT-enabled service work: the back office. The fieldwork study reveals how back office service work has been identified as suitable for ongoing reorganization and reconfiguration as firms respond to the pressures of contemporary capitalism. The article focuses on standardization as a means of facilitating organizational restructuring into shared service centres as highly skilled back office work is refra…
Taxing Times
The prevailing economic and budgetary climate is intensifying the search for methods and practices aimed at generating efficiencies in public sector provision. This paper investigates the increasingly popular bundle of techniques operating under the generic descriptor of lean , which promises to improve operational quality processes while simultaneously reducing cost. It offers a critical appraisal of lean as a fashionable component of public sec…
Stressed out of my box
Occupational health and safety (OHS) is under-researched in the sociology of work and employment. This deficit is most pronounced for white-collar occupations. Despite growing awareness of the significance of psychosocial conditions - notably stress - and musculoskeletal disorders, white-collar work is considered by conventional OHS discourse to be 'safe'. This study's locus is clerical processing in the UK public sector, specifically Her Majesty…
They can't be the buffer any longer
This article reasserts the value of the examination of class relations. It does so via a case study of tax-processing sites within HM Revenue and Customs, focusing on the changes wrought by the alterations to labour and supervisory processes implemented under the banner of 'lean production'. It concentrates on the transformation of front-line managers, as their tasks moved from those that required tax knowledge and team support to those that narr…
Gender segregation, underemployment and subjective well-being in the UK labour market
This article argues that gender segregation influences patterns of underemployment and the relationships that underemployment has with the subjective well-being of men and women. Previous studies have paid little attention to how gender segregation shapes underemployment, an increasingly prominent feature of the UK and European labour markets since the economic crisis of 2008. Using data from the UK Annual Population Surveys, this article examine…
Gender matters and decent work in the outdoor sector
In this paper, we have developed an original framework to interrogate policy concerning the outdoor sector, giving thought to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 5 (gender equality) and 8 (decent work), emphasising a shift from precarious to decent work in our investigation. Employing qualitative content analysis, we found the discourse of policy to be masculinised and heteronormative, focussed on growth, with limited reflection on gender mat…
Political science (14 works) · Public relations (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Business (9 works) · Economics (8 works) · Engineering (8 works) · Information and Communications Technology (7 works) · Marketing (7 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Work (physics (5 works)