Book Review: Ungendering Technology: Women Retooling the Masculine Sphere

In Ungendering Technology: Women Retooling the Masculine Sphere, Haddad presents five original case studies examining how women engage with and master technologies historically associated with men. Haddad’s purpose is to understand “how women develop technological expertise outside of K-12 and undergraduate academic settings. Formal education, though obviously important, is only one venue in which technical knowledge is acquired” (p. 1). Haddad’s guiding research questions were: What motivates women to engage with traditionally-male technologies? What are the characteristics of those technologies? To what extent do psychosocial factors (e.g., economic need, personal interest, influence of family/peers) and/or contextual factors (e.g., cultural/political climate) impact that motivation? What types of formal, informal, individual, and collective learning takes places? How do women overcome the constraints of gender-role stereotypes to use technology with confidence, and for what benefit? Haddad positions her work as interdisciplinary, drawing from science, technology, and society (STS; the social construction of technology), labor studies, empowerment theory (e.g., Ray, 2014), feminism (e.g., Wajcman, 2007), adult learning, with special emphasis on transformative learning (TL; Mezirow, 1994), and informal, self-directed, and peer learning. Although Haddad acknowledges debates among feminist and STS scholars about whether technology supports women’s empowerment or merely reinforces gender-based socio-economic power relations, she presents her research as examining the ways in which women experience empowerment based on their “ability to exert control over its introduction and use, cultural context, and knowledge” (p. 13). Each case study constitutes “a cross-sectional snapshot of technology use during a fixed period of time” (p. 12), where technology use is broadly conceptualized as any technical know-how. Data collection relied on participant interviews conducted from 2008 to 2014. Interview questions addressed the nature of technology used, learning processes, personal and contextual factors, and perceived benefits of mastery. Haddad analyzed data using a withinthen-across case thematic approach. Chapters 1 to 5 present each case study in turn. Every chapter begins with a description of the case’s context, history, and participants, followed by findings related to participants’ motivations, learning processes, and gender-based obstacles and supports associated with the use of specific technologies. Chapter 1 features 11 breast cancer survivors from Newfoundland, ages 40 to 70, who over 2 years built and raced their own wooden dragon boat—a significant task in a seafaring culture where boatbuilding has traditionally been the providence of men. The women were drawn to the dragon boat project by a desire to connect with and be supported by other breast cancer survivors. While constructing the boat under the mentorship of an experienced male boatbuilder, the women gained confidence in hand and power tools, rebuilt physical strength, and experienced healing. Chapter 2 documents the stories of six Egyptian women activist who used information and communication technologies (ICTs) to advocate for socio-political change and gender equality during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. All women had at least an undergraduate degree, identified as feminist, and were self-taught in ICTs. Mastering ICTs for political activism allowed rapid information transmission while bypassing government censorship, but the women also recognized that ICTs posed privacy risks and could be a venue for harassment. Chapter 3 presents the experiences of five women audio engineers who each worked in the music industry for over 30 years—an industry traditionally dominated by men performers, musicians, and sound engineers. Attracted to the audio engineering profession by their love of music and technological interests, many of these women also strongly identified as feminists and saw their careers as a way to earn a living while working toward social change. Informal apprenticeships were the primary means to career entry, which presented challenges, necessitated supportive male colleagues, and highlighted the importance of female mentors, when available. Chapter 4 focuses on Norma who, after obtaining a degree in special education spent 1979 to 1985 employed as a Detroit Water Department utility worker after 1173798 NHAXXX10.1177/19394225231173798New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource DevelopmentBook Review book-review2023