Q. How is the increasing use of technology changing the status of Women in Indian Society? (2014)
Model Answer:
Economic growth and technological advancement in India in the current decade is very impressive. Technology, market and development are considered gender-neutral. But there is pronounced urban bias and rural neglect in the development process of India. Modernization of the economy or advancement of the society is a semi-myth for village women. The gender division of labour within the rural household has remained culturally stubborn. Women as a class are oppressed and subdued by the hegemony of social patriarchy. Economic growth has failed to improve the situation either. Rather technology and labour market imperfections have accentuated the concentration of women in domestic works with non-market roles and activities, generating a new process of ‘housewifisation’, not ‘feminization of jobs’ in the rural sector. Although gender empowerment has been a buzzword in development circles, the concept remains ambiguous. Gender concerns and discourses survive within the development bureaucracies dominated by men. It is easier for them to ring-fence gender issues as a problem of poverty and to argue against ‘feminization of poverty’ than to admit the gender disadvantage which crosses the boundaries of class and ethnicity. Since the beginning of planned development, women have been viewed as a deprived section requiring welfare measures. Most studies and reports on women have only remained as a source of data, which rather endorses the passivity of the state. This paper is based on a primary survey of 900 households of two villages of Orissa. It studies the impact of technology on various social parameters of village economy. It examines the link between technology and occupational pattern of women, the level of female education, and identifies the factors that influence women employment. It assesses employment potentials and opportunities for women in both farm and non-farm activities in the villages. It attempts to reveal the real scenario of the rural sector, and argues that rescuing gender from poverty trap means we need poverty-independent gender analyses and policies. Education and technology should ensure liberation and freedom of thought for all human beings. It should break gradually the shackles of tradition that binds women in the man-made gaol. The gender issue should be delinked both from myopic economics and insensitive politics
Science and technology acts as an agent or mean of social change. The developments in the field of Science and technology had provided sound base for the rise of industrialisation. Industrialisation has destroyed the domestic system of production, brought women from the home to the factory and office and distinguished their earnings. It has meant a new social life for women.
In India, particularly after 1991 reforms various new employment opportunities have been created. Women education has been given importance. Women started coming out of four walls of the house and have entered into job market. There is trend of self-dependency and financial independence. Women are earning themselves and also making decisions about financial investments. This economic independence has improved the status of women in society. The earlier beliefs with respect to working women have been changing for the good.
Modern technology is supported and directed by powerful institutions and interests. Men gravitate to science and technology. We must question, whether technology is male dominated because it demands some essentially masculine traits, or ‘simply’ because technology is where the power is?. Technology is socially constructed, or co-produced, alongside gender. itself gets gendered in the eyes of would be technologists. The continued male dominance in science and engineering is due in large measure to the enduring symbolic association of masculinity and technology by which cultural images and representations of technology converge with prevailing images of masculinity and power. The use of technology is always discriminatory. Technical prowess is what defines them as engineers and what gives them a sense of power. The symbolic gendering of technology extends beyond the artefactual, but it has material consequences. Within the masculinity-technology association, one can discern a series of highly gendered dichotomies. Most obvious of these is the distinction between being people-focussed and machine-focussed. It corresponds to the division between feminine
expressiveness and masculine instrumentalism. Most women routinely interact with people and technologies. For example, computer is implicitly rather than explicitly gendered. ‘Hard’ technology is inert and powerful, while ‘Soft’ technology is smaller scale. So, the world of technology is made to feel remote and overwhelmingly powerful because of the hard-soft dualism. The hard-soft dichotomy also extends to styles of thought in technology.
On the masculine side of those dualisms we have an objectivist rationality associated with emotional detachment. On the feminine side we have a more subjective rationality associated with emotional connectedness. Males have dominated the ‘internet culture’ since its inception. The Internet culture can be discomforting and alien to females.
India has achieved higher technological advancement during last decade. The Green Revolution, which focuses on increasing yields of rice and wheat, entails a shift in inputs from human to technical. Women’s participation, knowledge and inputs are marginalized, and their role has shifted from being “primary producers to subsidiary workers.” Women work longer hours and their work is more arduous than men’s, yet their work is unrecognized. Men report that “women, like children, eat and do nothing.” Technological progress in agriculture has had a negative impact on women. There is tremendous effects of information technology on women’s employment and the nature of women’s work in all third world countries including India.
But in areas of technology, till today women represent about 10 % of researchers and about 5% of manager. The impact of information technology on society has not been uniformly beneficial, and the technological divide is being increasingly felt, especially in the developing countries. Serious obstacles still continue in achieving gender equality. The gender implications of digital divide is very serious in India. Access to and use of the Internet has important economic, educational, and social benefits, and those who are excluded from Internet participation will also be excluded from several benefits.
Lack of training does not allow them to escape from their sex-typed slots. The women from poorer families face challenges as they adjust to new technologies. Their jobs do not reintegrate them, levelling the hierarchies and adding responsibilities.
It is still believed by the elite class of Orissa that science improves their role and make them better mother, better wives, enriching their domestic lives. They do not think beyond that. Women still face subtle resistance to their participation in science and technology, no matter how talented she is, from all corners, particularly from the husband, how so ever educated he may be. Women are expressly excluded from many activities. Because marriage has remained indispensable goal for the women, particularly in Orissa. All her achievements culminate in a good marriage and proving her motherhood. Not being married is a great social stigma both for the family and the girls.
Not becoming mother is considered greater ominous. Therefore, getting higher education for girls is an accident. Ninety percent of marriages are caste-based, arranged by the parents. Therefore, parents feel it as a burden or duty. Girls continue their studies till the parent get a good boy for them. Education reduces the set of choice for the parents. So, it is perceived as a problem for many girls. It is increasingly difficult to marry and get a partner. A good girl student experiences very encouraging motivation from the teachers, but cold attitude from the parents and relatives. Besides this, the amount of dowry-offer proportionally increases with the girls schooling for the parents. Even today many educated people (including the potential husbands) think that educated women would engage in deviant social and political behaviour.
It is perceived that she would refuse to do household work and disobey their husband, if their education is too higher than the husband. They would become masculinized and expect to be included in men’s activities. Advocates of women’s education argue that education will help women to fulfil their God-given duties toward their husband and family. Therefore, women suffer greater subordination and deprivation both at home and in society. Oppression of women in Orissa can be described as hypocritical at its worst and schizophrenic at its best. Women should be given various (both farm and non-farm) training to escape from their sex-typed slots. The aim with jobs should be to reintegrate them wherever possible, levelling the hierarchies, adding responsibilities to lower grade jobs and building in more interaction with the technologies in the case of routine operations and jobs. It should provide pathways for lower skilled women workers to learn and progress. The aim of training should be to encourage women of any age or occupation to consider on-the-job or off-the-job training for more technical work. Otherwise they are more susceptible to displacement and deskilling by emerging push-button technology. Technology should liberate women potential instead of hooking them up, or tying them inside the virtual prisons. Community-based women’s organisations should be instrumental in the process of enabling women to cross the so-called digital divide. Technology should be powerful tools for women to overcome discrimination, achieve full equality and higher well-being.
Development of technology has also made the life of women easier. For example- Various devices or home appliances have made it easier to perform several tasks. Women are able to get more time for themselves. In contemporary times, various vehicles are specifically designed for women. This has been really empowering for women as they can drive or ride themselves. The advancement of communication technology has provided scope for work from home to women. In addition to it, the development in the field of cryogenics has been looked upon as a boon with which women can choose the time of pregnancy period.