Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 2020, 21 (2): 13-31

Gender Relations at the Digitalised Workplace: The Interrelation Between Digitalisation, Gender, and Work

Bettina Kohlrausch1, Lena Weber1
1 University of Paderborn (Germany)

Innovative leaps in digital technology alongside changing gender roles in society may open a window of opportunity to renegotiate gendered work patterns. The main question addressed in this article is the extent to which digitalisation holds the potential to reorganise gendered work relations, and if so why. First, we elaborate on the interrelation between work and gender in capitalist societies. Our main argument is that digitalisation is shifting the boundaries between paid and unpaid labour with far-reaching repercussions for women and men. Second, we will identify core digitalisation processes capable of overcoming or changing gendered work patterns. These include automation, the platform economy, and the interactive processes by which a value is assigned to work. We discuss these three processes and their implications for gender inequalities by means of examples based on current literature.

Keywords: gendered work pattern, digitalisation, digital capitalism

Accepted: November 9, 2020; Prepublished online: January 13, 2021; Published: January 12, 2021  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Kohlrausch, Bettina and Lena Weber. 2020. "Gender Relations at the Digitalised Workplace: The Interrelation Between Digitalisation, Gender, and Work." Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 21(2):13-31.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Abendroth, A. K., M. Reimann. 2018. Telework and Work-Family Conflict across Workplaces: Investigating the Implications of Work-Family-Supportive and High-Demand Workplace Cultures. Pp. 323-348 in Contemporary Perspectives on Family Research, in Blair, S. L., J. Obradović (eds.). The Work-Family Interface: Spillover, Complications, and Challenges. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing Limited. Go to original source...
    2. Acker, J. 1990. Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations. Gender & Society 4 (2): 139-158. Go to original source...
    3. Adkins, L., M. Dever (eds.). 2015. The Post-Fordist Sexual Contract: Working and Living in Contingency. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Go to original source...
    4. Arcy, J. 2016. Emotion Work: Considering Gender in Digital Labor. Feminist Media Studies 16 (2): 365-368, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2016.1138609. Go to original source...
    5. Becker-Schmidt, R. 2002. Theorizing Gender Arrangements. Pp. 25-48 in Becker-Schmidt, R. (ed.) Gender and Work in Transition: Globalization in Western, Middle and Eastern Europe. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag. Go to original source...
    6. Becker-Schmidt, R. 2003. Umbrüche in Arbeitsbiografien von Frauen: Regionale Konstellationen und globale Entwicklungen. Pp. 101-132 in Knapp, G.-A., A. Wetterer (eds.). Achsen der Differenz. Gesellschaftstheorie und feministische Kritik II. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot.
    7. Becker-Schmidt, R. 2007. Geschlechter- und Arbeitsverhältnisse in Bewegung. Pp. 250-268 in Aulenbacher, B., M. Funder, H. Jacobsen, H., S. Völker (eds.). Arbeit und Geschlecht im Umbruch der modernen Gesellschaft: Forschung im Dialog. Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Go to original source...
    8. Bergvall-Kåreborn, D. Howcroft. 2014. Amazon Mechanical Turk and the Commodification of Labour. New Technology, Work and Employment 29 (3): 213-223. Go to original source...
    9. Bertschek, I., J. Ohnemus, and S. Viete. 2015. Befragung zum sozioökonomischen Hintergrund und zu den Motiven von Crowdworkern: Endbericht zur Kurzexpertise an das Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales. Mannheim.
    10. Bonin, H., T. Gregory, U. Zierahn. 2015. Übertragung der Studie von Frey/Osborne (2013) auf Deutschland: Kurzexpertise Nr. 57 im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Arbeit und Soziales. Mannheim: ZEW.
    11. Brynjolfsson, E., A. McAfee. 2014. The Second Machine Age: Wie die nächste digitale Revolution unserer aller Leben verändern wird. Kulmbach: Plassen.
    12. Campbell, I., L. F. Vosko, M. MacDonald. 2009. Gender and the Contours of Precarious Employment. New York: Routledge.
    13. Carstensen, T. 2019. Verunsichtbarung von Geschlechterungleichheiten? Digitalisierte Arbeit zwischen Rhetoriken neuer Möglichkeiten und der Reorganisation alter Muster. Pp. 69-87 in Kohlrausch, B., C. Schildmann, D. Voss (eds.). Industrie und Digitalisierung von Arbeit: Neue Arbeit - neue Ungleichheiten? Weinheim: Beltz Juventa.
    14. Charles, M. 2003. Deciphering Sex Segregation: Vertical and Horizontal Inequalities in Ten National Labor Markets. Acta Sociologica 46 (4): 267-287, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00 01699303464001. Go to original source...
    15. Cirucci, A. M. 2018. A New Women's Work: Digital Interactions, Gender, and Social Network Sites. International Journal of Communication 12: 2948-2970.
    16. Codagnone, C., A. Karatzogianni, J. Matthews. 2019. Platform Economics: Rhetoric and Reality in the 'Sharing Economy'. Bingley: Emerald Publishing. Retrieved 8/11/2020 (https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/book/10.1108/9781787438095). Go to original source...
    17. Dastin, J. 2018. Amazon Scraps Secret AI Recruiting Tool That Showed Bias against Women. Reuters online. Retrieved 23/9/2020 (https://eu-recruit.com/jobs/ai-machine-learning/ ?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvbbrwOr-6wIVjqmyCh0zzAldEAAYASAAEgK-NPD_BwE).
    18. Dengler, K., B. Matthes. 2016. Auswirkungen der Digitalisierung auf die Arbeitswelt: Substituierbarkeitspotenziale nach Geschlecht. Aktuelle Berichte No. 24. Nürnberg: Institut für Arbeits-und Berufsforschung.
    19. Dengler, K., B. Matthes. 2018. The Impacts of Digital Transformation on the Labour Market: Substitution Potentials of Occupations in Germany. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 137: 304-316, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.09.024. Go to original source...
    20. Duffy, B. E. 2016. The Romance of Work: Gender and Aspirational Labour in the Digital Culture Industries. International Journal of Cultural Studies 19 (4): 441-457, http://dx.doi. org/10.1177/1367877915572186. Go to original source...
    21. Duffy, B. E., U. Pruchniewska. 2017. Gender and Self-Enterprise in the Social Media Age: a Digital Double Bind. Information, Communication & Society 20 (6): 843-859, http:// dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1291703. Go to original source...
    22. Eisenstein, Z. R. (ed.). 1979. Women's Studies, Political Science. Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism. New York: Monthly Review Press.
    23. Esping-Andersen, G. 1990. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Go to original source...
    24. Fraser, N. 2009. Feminism, Capitalism and the Cunning of History. New Left Review (2009) 56: 97-117.
    25. Gerber, C. 2019. Brave New Digital Work? New Forms of Performance Control in Crowdwork. Pp. 121-143 in Research in the Sociology of Work, in Vallas, S. P., A. Kovalainen (eds.). Work and Labor in the Digital Age. London: Emerald Publishing. Go to original source...
    26. Graham, M., I. Hjorth, V. Lehdonvirta. 2017. Digital Labour and Development: Impacts of Global Digital Labour Platforms and the Gig Economy on Worker Livelihoods. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research 23 (2): 135-162, http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1177/1024258916687250. Go to original source...
    27. Gregg, M., R. Andrijasevic. 2019. Virtually Absent: The Gendered Histories and Economies of Digital Labour. Feminist Review 123 (1): 1-7, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/014177891987 8929. Go to original source...
    28. Hartmann, H. I. 1979. The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More Progressive Union. Capital & Class 3 (2): 1-33. Go to original source...
    29. Hunter, A. 2016. Monetizing the Mommy: Mommy Blogs and the Audience Commodity. Information, Communication & Society 19 (9): 1306-1320, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/ 1369118X.2016.1187642. Go to original source...
    30. Huws, U. 2014. Labor in the Global Digital Economy: The Cybertariat Comes of Age. New York: Monthly Review Press.
    31. Huws, U., N. Spencer, D. Syrdal, K. Holts, A. Graumans. 2017. Work in the European Gig Economy: Research Results from the UK, Sweden, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy. Brussels: Foundation for European Progressive Studies.
    32. Huws, U. 2019. The Hassle of Housework: Digitalisation and the Commodification of Domestic Labour. Feminist Review 123 (1): 8-23, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/014177891 9879725. Go to original source...
    33. Jarrett, K. 2014. The Relevance of 'Women's Work': Social Reproduction and Immaterial Labor in Digital Media. Television & New Media 15 (1): 14-29, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/ 1527476413487607. Go to original source...
    34. Jarrett, K. 2016. Feminism, Labour and Digital Media: The Digital Housewife. New York, London: Routledge. Go to original source...
    35. Jurczyk, K. 1998. Time in Women's Everyday Lives. Time & Society 7 (2-3): 283-308, http:// dx.doi.org/10.1177/0961463X98007002007. Go to original source...
    36. Jürgens, K. 2019. Das 'smarte' Leben. Ein Versprechen der Digitalisierung auf dem Prüfstand. Pp. 53-68 in Kohlrausch, B., C. Schildmann, D. Voss (eds.). Industrie 4.0 und Digitalisierung von Arbeit: Neue Arbeit - neue Ungleichheiten? Weinheim: Beltz Juventa.
    37. Keane, C., H. Russell, E. Smyth. 2017. Female Participation Increases and Gender Segregation. ESRI Working Paper. No. 564. Dublin: The Economic and Social Research Institute.
    38. Kollmann, T., C. Stöckmann, S. Hensellek, J. Kensbock. 2016. European Startup Monitor 2016. Essen: Universität Duisburg-Essen Lehrstuhl für E-Business.
    39. Kovalainen, A., S. P. Vallas, S. Poutanen. 2020. Theorizing Work in Contemporary Platform Economy. Forthcoming in Poutanen, S., A. Kovalainen, P. Rouvinen (eds.). Digital Work in the Platform Economy. London: Routledge. Go to original source...
    40. Kullmann, M. 2018. Platform Work, Algorithmic Decision-Making, and EU Gender Equality Law. International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations 34 (1): 1-21. Go to original source...
    41. Lawrence, M., C. Roberts, L. King. 2017. Managing Automation: Employment, Inequality and Ethics in the Digital Age. IPPR Discussion Paper. London: Institute for Public Policy Research.
    42. Leidner, R. 1991. Serving Hamburgers and Selling Insurances: Gender, Work, and Identity in Interactive Service Jobs. Gender & Society 5 (2): 154-177, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/ 089124391005002002. Go to original source...
    43. OECD. 2019. Employment Outlook. Paris: OECD.
    44. O'Neil, C. 2017. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. New York: Broadway Books.
    45. Ouellette, L., J. Wilson. 2011. Women's Work: Affective Labour and Convergence Culture. Cultural Studies 25 (4-5): 548-465, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2011.600546. Go to original source...
    46. Pasquale, F. 2015. The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms That Control Money and Information. Cambridge, London: Harvard University Press. Go to original source...
    47. Pesole, A., M. C. Urzí Brancati, E. Fernández-Macías, F. Biagi, I. González Vázquez. 2018. Platform Workers in Europe: Evidence from the COLLEEM Survey. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
    48. Pfau-Effinger, B. 2005. Culture and Welfare State Policies: Reflections on a Complex Interrelation. Journal of Social Policy 34 (1): 3-20, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ S0047279404008232. Go to original source...
    49. Piasna, A., J. Drahokoupil. 2017. Gender Inequalities in the New World of Work. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research 23 (3): 313-332, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/102 4258917713839. Go to original source...
    50. Poutanen, S., A. Kovalainen, P. Rouvinen (eds.). 2020. Digital Work in the Platform Economy. London: Routledge. Go to original source...
    51. Riegraf, B., Weber, L. 2017. Excellence and Gender Equality Policies in Neoliberal Universities. Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 18 (1): 92-112. Go to original source...
    52. Rosenblat, A., L. Stark. 2016. Algorithmic Labor and Information Asymmetries: A Case Study of Uber's Drivers. International Journal of Communication 10: 3758-3784.
    53. Ross, A. 2013. In Search of the Lost Paycheck. Pp. 13-32 in Scholz, T. (ed.). Digital Labor: The Internet as Playground and Factory. New York: Routledge.
    54. Rubery, J. 2011. Towards a Gendering of the Labour Market Regulation Debate. Cambridge Journal of Economics 35 (6): 1103-26, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cje/ber001. Go to original source...
    55. Scheele, A. 2007. Gender and the Quality of Work: An Overview of European and National Approaches. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research 13 (4): 595-610, http:// dx.doi.org/10.1177/102425890701300406. Go to original source...
    56. Schiller, D. 2000. Digital Capitalism: Networking the Global Market System. Cambridge, MA, London: MIT. Go to original source...
    57. Scholz, T. 2017. Uberworked and Underpaid: How Workers Are Disrupting the Digital Economy. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
    58. Silberzahn, R., E. L. Uhlmann, L. Zhu. 2014. Pay As She Goes: For Stereotypically Male Jobs, Women Tend to be Hired by the Hour. Academy of Management Proceedings 2014 (1): 16273, http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2014.16273abstract. Go to original source...
    59. Staab, P. 2016. Falsche Versprechen: Wachstum im digitalen Kapitalismus. Hamburg: Hamburger Edition.
    60. Ticona, J., A. Mateescu. 2018. Trusted Strangers: Carework Platforms' Cultural Entrepreneurship in the On-Demand Economy. New Media & Society 20 (11): 4384-4404, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1461444818773727. Go to original source...
    61. Turco, C. J. 2016. The Conversational Firm: Rethinking Bureaucracy in the Age of Social Media. New York: Columbia University Press. Go to original source...
    62. Uhlmann, E. L., R. Silberzahn. 2014. Conformity Under Uncertainty: Reliance on Gender Stereotypes in Online Hiring Decisions. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 37 (1): 103-104, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X13001921. Go to original source...
    63. Voß, G. G., C. Weiß. 2009. Ist der Arbeitskraftunternehmer weiblich? Pp. 65-91 in Lohr, K., and Nickel, H. (eds.). Subjektivierung von Arbeit - Riskante Chancen. 2nd ed. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot.
    64. Wajcman, J. 2004. TechnoFeminism. Cambridge: Polity Press.
    65. Weber, J., C. Bath. 2007. 'Social' Robots & 'Emotional' Software Agents: Gendering Processes and De-Gendering Strategies for 'Technologies in the Making'. Pp. 53-63 in Zorn, I., S. Maass, E. Rommes, H. Schelhowe, C. Schirmer (eds.). Gender Designs IT: Construction and Deconstruction of Information Society Technology. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag. Go to original source...
    66. Weber, L. 2020. Digitalisierung, Geschlechtliche Zuweisungsprozesse und De/ Professionalisierung in der Care-Arbeit. Forthcoming in Becker, K., K. Binner, F. Décieux (eds.). Gespannte Arbeits- und Geschlechterverhältnisse im Marktkapitalismus. Wiesbaden: Springer. Go to original source...
    67. West, C., D. H. Zimmerman. 1987. Doing Gender. Gender & Society 1 (2): 125-151, http:// dx.doi.org/10.1177/0891243287001002002. Go to original source...
    68. West, M., R. Kraut, H. E. Chew. 2019. I'd Blush If I Could: Closing Gender Divides in Digital Skills through Education. Paris: UNESCO.
    69. Wischermann, U., A. Kirschenbauer (eds.). 2015. Geschlechterarrangements in Bewegung: Veränderte Arbeits- und Lebensweisen durch Informatisierung? Bielefeld: transcript. Go to original source...
    70. Wood, A. J., M. Graham, V. Lehdonvirta, I. Hjorth. 2019. Good Gig, Bad Gig: Autonomy and Algorithmic Control in the Global Gig Economy. Work, Employment & Society: A Journal of the British Sociological Association 33 (1): 56-75, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/ 0950017018785616. Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content