Shifting boundaries : gender, labor, and new information and communication technology

Abstract

This contribution will attempt to tease out the complex and shifting inter-relationship between, on the one hand, the gender division of labour in unpaid work and paid work and, on the other hand, transformations in the technical and spatial division of labour that have accompanied the spread of information and communications technologies, the liberalisation of world trade and globalisation. These encompass changes in the boundaries between paid and unpaid work, erosions in traditional occupational identities and the emergence of new ones, and the relocation of work, not only between offices, homes and public places but also between regions and continents. It will assess the extent to which these developments have challenged traditional models of gender relations and outline some of the contradictions that arise as these changes interact with each other. It will conclude with an inquiry into the possibilities opened up for new divisions, as well as new solidarities, between women.