Edited by Swasti Mitter and Sheila Rowbotham
Published by Routledge and the UNU Press, 1995
ISBN 0-415-12687-8, 356 pages

Abstract
This collection of essays explores the effects of information technology on women's employment and the nature of women's work in the third world. Contributors discuss the challenges faced by women, along with their responses and organising strategies, as they adjust to new technologies in less affluent communities. Also outlined are the roles that family, ideology, state policies and trade union structures can play in distributing information technology-related employment among women and men. Particular chapters highlight differences in the interests and needs of different groups of women, challenging the concept of a monolithic, specifically feminine vision of technology and science. The book provides a critique of postmodernism and ecofeminism and suggests ways in which modem technologies could promote gender equality in the developing world.
In looking at the impact of information technology on the working lives of women in the third world, this volume begins to redress the imbalance in the literature, which has tended thus far to focus mainly on the experiences of first world countries. Presenting fresh research from leading academics around the world, Women Encounter Technology lays a vital foundation for further debate and research in this important area