Feminism Confronts AI: The Gender Relations of Digitalisation

Abstract

This essay locates and unveils workforce injustices in key figures and analyses, breaking down the reasons why women are still under-represented. Wajcman and Young offer nuanced insight into how the digital gender divide manifests globally, not only in relation to access to technology but in learning and skills. They turn their attention to gendered divisions in different tech roles, how gender has shaped tech development, the history of feminist responses to digitalisation, and the origins and evolution of workforce divisions. They give crucial insight into the gender-specific impacts of future automation that are grounded in an understanding of current gendered divisions in the labour market. Ultimately, they argue that diversifying the workforce is not merely a matter of increasing the number of women and people from marginalised groups, but of achieving an upheaval in the culture and politics of tech companies.

Citation information

Wajcman, Judy and Young, Erin. (2023) ‘Feminism Confronts AI: The Gender Relations of Digitalisation’, in Feminist AI: critical perspectives on data, algorithms and intelligent machines, J. Browne, S. Cave, E. Drage, and K. McInerny (eds.), Oxford University Press, pp. 47-64.

Turing affiliated authors