Ungendering Technology

Reviewed by: Ungendering Technology: Women Retooling the Masculine Sphere by Carol J. Haddad Chris Hesselbein (bio) Ungendering Technology: Women Retooling the Masculine Sphere. By Carol J. Haddad. New York: Routledge, 2019. Pp. 192. Hardcover $155. One of the many ways in which gender is "done" in almost any society is through technology. Technical skill and expertise are defined and assigned to specific bodies (and not to others), thus giving shape to a variety of masculinities and femininities. Intellectual acuity and the practical skills required to master technology have all too often been considered masculine, whereas many objects and practices deemed impractical or unskilled have been deemed feminine. This conflation of technology with masculinity has, thankfully, been thoroughly refuted by feminist studies of technology (FST). By undermining masculinist views of modern history as progress and by critically interrogating concepts such as efficiency and functionality, FST has both expanded the definition of what counts as technology and underscored how the production and consumption of technology are implicated in the persistence of gender inequality. Such academic arguments notwithstanding, the popular association of technology with masculinity persists, and its impact on everyday experiences of gender is perhaps nowhere more visible than in the enduring underrepresentation of women in professional fields such as science, technology, engineering, and math. How women nonetheless succeed in professions traditionally dominated by men and how they learn to appreciate and master "masculine technologies" is exactly what Carol J. Haddad seeks to explore in Ungendering Technology. As her title suggests, Haddad's main thesis is that women who master the technical skills traditionally considered the province of men are effectively "ungendering" such technologies. In a series of five in-depth case studies, Haddad illustrates "the ways in which women's control over varied technologies in different countries and decades has [End Page 706] contributed to their empowerment" (p. 14). These range from an individual woman who worked in sewer repair and operated a water treatment plant (chapter 4); from Egyptian activists using information technologies during the overthrow of President Mubarak in 2011 to American audio engineers participating in the women's music movement (chapters 2, 3); from dragon boat builders to commercial airline pilots (chapters 1, 5). In each chapter, Haddad allows her interlocutors to speak for themselves using lengthy quotes to illustrate what motivated women to engage with technology, the contextual factors that played a role in fostering their interests, the formal and informal ways in which they became proficient in using "masculine technologies," and, most importantly, how women managed to overcome "gender-based roadblocks" all along the way. The greatest strength of Haddad's book is her compelling representation of women's experiences of varied technologies and professions across a range of geographical locations and time periods—all in their own voices. The recounting of such stories, at once touching and inspiring, is an invaluable contribution to understanding how some women have encountered and overcome the stereotypical association of technology with masculinity through individual willpower and the help of others. The knowledge and skills acquired by the women in Haddad's book gave them an increased sense of control over their lives and, in the case of the Egyptian activists and the American audio engineers, allowed them to contribute to a collective political cause as well. However, Haddad's generally celebratory description of women finding confidence, pleasure, and even healing by learning how to use technology and entering professional domains often still dominated by men is somewhat diminished by the fact that the book's level of empirical detail is not matched by an equal level of theoretical engagement. Despite acknowledging the importance of the "co-creation thesis" for understanding the relationship between gender and technology (p. 6), Haddad appears reluctant to let go of the notion that gender and technology are preexistent and independent phenomena, rather than mutually constituted in practice as co-creation would suggest. This is most glaring in the claim that women using tools or operating machines usually used or operated by men will "ungender" these technologies. Such a claim does not consider how gendered assumptions might be designed into an artifact nor how women might domesticate, appropriate, or tinker with technologies to suit their

Aesthetics · Art · Masculinity · Sociology · Variety (cybernetics) · Computer Science · Gender Studies · Indian Economic and Social Development · Socioeconomic Development in MENA · Water Governance and Infrastructure