article

A theoretical agenda for feminist HCI

Author:

Jennifer A. RodeAuthors Info & Claims

Interacting with Computers, Volume 23, Issue 5

Pages 393 - 400

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intcom.2011.04.005

Published: 01 September 2011 Publication History

Abstract

HCI has a complex and often ambivalent attitude towards the issue of gender and interactive systems. Here I discuss three dominant paradigms for treating gender in HCI, and discuss their limitations. Next, I will present the theoretical perspectives on gender which are on the fringes of HCI -Technology as Masculine Culture, Gender Positionality, and Lived Body Experience - and discuss their possible contributions. I will show how this supports a reassessment of the use of gender theory in technological settings and its relevance for framing questions of gender in HCI. My goal in doing so is to argue for the importance of a more direct treatment of gender in HCI and move towards a feminist theory for HCI.

References

[1]

Cultural feminism versus post-structuralism: the identity Crisis in feminist theory. Signs. v13 i3. 405-436.

[2]

(Whose) Value-sensitive design? a study of long-distance relationships in an arabic cultural context. In: Computer Supported Coopoerative Work, Hangzhou, China, ACMP, New York. pp. 75-84.

[3]

Bardzell, S., 2010. Feminist HCI: taking stock and outlining an agenda for design. In: Proceedings of the 28th International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '10). ACM, New York, NY, USA, pp. 1301-1310.

Digital Library

[4]

Barkhuus, L., Rode, J.A., 2007. From mice to men: 24 years of evaluation at CHI. Alt Chi.

Digital Library

[5]

Beckwith, L., Kissinger, C., Burnett, M., Widenbeck, S., Lawrence, J., Blackwell, A., Cook, C., 2006. Tinkering and gender in end-user programmers debugging. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Montreal, Canada, pp. 231-240.

Digital Library

[6]

Making by making strange: Defamiliarization and the design of domestic technologies. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI). v12 i2. 149-173.

Digital Library

[7]

Feminism and constructivism: do artifacts have gender?. Science Technology and Human Values. v20 i3. 332-351.

[8]

The Gender Factory: The Appointment of Work in American households. New York, Plenum.

[9]

Bijker, W.E., 1994. The social construction of fluorescent lighting. In: Bijker, W.E., Law, J. (Eds.), Shaping Technology/Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 75-104.

[10]

Burnett, M.M., 2010. Gender HCI: what about the software? In: Proceedings of the 28th ACM International Conference on Design of Communication (SIGDOC '10). ACM, New York, NY, USA, pp. 251-251.

Digital Library

[11]

Butler, J., 2006. Gender Trouble. Routeledge, New York, NY.

[12]

The incredible shrinking pipeline. Communications of the ACM. v40 i10. 103-110.

Digital Library

[13]

Genderizing HCI. In: Jacko, J., Sears, A. (Eds.), The Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction, Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ. pp. 402-411.

[14]

Cockburn, C., 1992. The circuit of technology: gender, identity and power. In: Information and Communication Technologies in the Home. Routledge, New York, NY, pp. 32-47.

[15]

Dourish, P., 2001. Where the Action Is. Cambridge, MA, MIT University Press.

[16]

Dourish, P., 2006. Implications for design. In: Grinter, Rebecca, Rodden, Thomas, Aoki, Paul, Cutrell, Ed, Jeffries, Robin, Olson, Gary (Eds.), Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, New York, NY, USA, pp. 541-550.

Digital Library

[17]

The power and the pleasure? a research agenda for "making gender stick" to engineers. Science, Technology and Human Values. v25 i1. 87-119.

[18]

Hierarchies and gender in engineering. Social Studies of Science. v30 i5. 759-792.

[19]

The technology question in feminism: a view from feminist technology studies. Women's Studies International Forum. v24 i1. 79-95.

[20]

Value-sensitive design. Interactions. v3 i6. 16-20.

[21]

Frissen, V., 1985. Gender is calling: uses of the telephone. In: Grint, K., Gill (Eds.), The Gender-Technology Relation; Contemporary Theory and Research. Taylor and Francis, R. London, pp. 79-94.

[22]

Garfinkel, H., Sacks, H., 1970. On formal structures of practical actions. In: McKinnney, J.C., Tiryakian, E.A. (Eds.), Theoretical Sociology: Perspectives and Developments. Appleton-Century-Crofts.

[23]

Garfinkel, H., 1984. Studies in Ethnomethodology, sixth ed. Prentice Hall Press, Oxford.

[24]

Goh, Dion Hoe-Lian, Ang, Rebecca P., Chua, Alton Y.K., Lee, Chei Sian, 2010. Evaluating game genres for tagging images. In: Proceedings of the sixth Nordic Conference on Human-computer Interaction: Extending Boundaries (NordiCHI '10). ACM, NY, NY, USA, pp. 659-662.

Digital Library

[25]

Hapnes, T., Sorenson, K.H., 1995. Competition and collaboration in male shaping of computing: a study of Norwegian hacker culture. In: Grint, K., Gill, R., (Eds.), The Gender Technology Relation; Contemporary Theory and Research. Taylor & Francis, London.

[26]

Harding, S., 1986. The Science Question in Feminism. Cornell UP, Prentice Hall, Ithaca, NY.

[27]

Helgeson, V., 2010. Psychology of Gender. third ed.

[28]

Gender, software design, and occupational equity. SIGCSE. v34 i2. 112-115.

Digital Library

[29]

Kaye, J., 2007. Evaluating Experience-focused HCI. Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, San Jose, CA, New York, NY, pp. 1661-1666.

Digital Library

[30]

Kelleher, C., Pausch, R., Kiesler, S., 2007. Storytelling alice motivates middle school girls to learn computer programming. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM Press, pp. 1455-1464.

Digital Library

[31]

In the Belly of the Beast; Constructing Femininities in Engineering Organizations. The European Journal of Women's Studies. v6 i3. 305-328.

[32]

Livingstone, Livingstone, S., 1992. The meaning of domestic technologies: a personal construct analysis of familial gender relations. In: Silverstone, R., Hirsch, E. (Eds.), Consuming Technologies. Routledge, London.

[33]

Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

[34]

Mother wouldn't like it! housework as magic. Theory Society and Culture. v2 i2. 19-35.

[35]

How can I help you? call centres, classification work and coordination. Computer Supported Cooperative Work. v16 i3. 231-264.

Digital Library

[36]

Wifework: What Marriage Really Means for Women. Bloomsbury, New York, NY.

[37]

Patrarchal machines and masculine embodiment. Science, Technology and Human Values. v27 i4. 460-478.

[38]

Moi, T., 1999. What is Woman? Oxford, Oxford UP.

[39]

O'Neill, J., Martin, David, 2003. Text chat in action. In: Proceedings of the 2003 International ACM SIGGROUP Conference on Supporting Group Work (GROUP '03). ACM, New York, NY, USA, pp. 40-49.

Digital Library

[40]

Oost, 2003. Materialized gender: how shavers configure the users' femininity and masculinity. In: Oudshoorn, N., Pinch, T. (Eds.), How Users Matter: The Co-construction of Users and Technology. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 193-208.

[41]

Is female to male as nature is to culture. In Women, Culture and Society. 67-88.

[42]

Rode, J.A., Toye, E.F., Blackwell, Alan F., 2004. The domestic economy: a broader unit of analysis for end user programming. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM Press, Portland, OR, pp. 161-176.

Digital Library

[43]

Rode, J.A., 2008. An Ethnographic Examination of the Relationship of Gender & End-User Programming. Doctoral Thesis University, California Irvine. UMI Order Number: AAI3311560.

Digital Library

[44]

Rode, J.A., 2010. The roles that make the domestic work. In: Proceedings of the 2010 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Savannah, Georgia. ACM, New York, NY, pp. 381-390.

Digital Library

[45]

Reflexivity in digital anthropology. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, New York, NY, USA. pp. 123-132.

Digital Library

[46]

Schwartz-Cowan, R., 1983. More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave. Basic Books, New York, NY.

[47]

Strathern, M., 1980. No nature, no culture: the hagen case. In: Maccormack, C.M., Strathern, M. (Eds.), Nature, Culture and Gender. Cambridge UP, Cambridge, UK, pp. 174-219.

[48]

The division of domestic labor: twenty years of change?. Sociology. v34 i3. 437-456.

[49]

Tan, D.S., Czerwinski, M., Robertson, G., 2003. Women go with the (optical) flow. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA, pp. 209-215.

Digital Library

[50]

Tolmie, P., Crabtree, A., Rodden, T., Greenhalgh, C., Benford, S., 2007. Making the home network at home: digital housekeeping. In: Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. ACM Press, Limerick, Wereland, pp. 331-350.

[51]

Tong, R.P., 1998. Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction, Westview P., Boulder, CO.

[52]

Turkel, S., 1988. Computational Reticence: Why Women Fear the Intimate Machine, Technology and Women's Voices. Routeledge, New York, NY.

[53]

Wajcman, J., 1992. Feminist Theories of Technology. Paper Presented at Workshop on The Gender-Technology Relation, CRICT, Brunell University 16-17 September.

[54]

Doing difference. Gender and Society. v9 i1. 8-37.

[55]

Doing gender. Gender and Society. v1 i2. 125-151.

[56]

Wyche, S.P., Hayes, G.R., Harvel, L.D., Grinter, R.E., 2006. Technology in spiritual formation: an exploratory study of computer mediated religious communications. In: Proceedings of the 2006 20th Anniversary Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, pp. 199-208.

Digital Library

[57]

Young, I.M., 2005. On Female Body Experience: Throwing Like a Girl and Other Essays. Oxford UP, Oxford, UK.

Cited By

Rode JFeng YZhang HRosman RBastaman AKing JSamson MDong XWalker AHorton MRead JOliver MElmimouni H(2024)Playful Telepresence Robots with School ChildrenProceedings of the 13th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/3679318.3685367(1-16)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3679318.3685367
Qin YDuan WWu QLu Z(2024)Dismantling Gender Blindness in Online Discussion of a Crime/Gender DichotomyProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36536868:CSCW1(1-31)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3653686
Seaborn KGessinger IYoshida SCowan BDoyle P(2024)Cross-Cultural Validation of Partner Models for Voice User InterfacesProceedings of the 6th ACM Conference on Conversational User Interfaces10.1145/3640794.3665537(1-10)Online publication date: 8-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3640794.3665537
Show More Cited By

A theoretical agenda for feminist HCI
1. Human-centered computing

Recommendations

Feminist HCI: taking stock and outlining an agenda for design
CHI '10: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Feminism is a natural ally to interaction design, due to its central commitments to issues such as agency, fulfillment, identity, equity, empowerment, and social justice. In this paper, I summarize the state of the art of feminism in HCI and propose ...
Studying Infrastructuring Ethnographically

This paper is motivated by a methodological interest in how to investigate information infrastructures as an empirical, real-world phenomenon. We argue that research on information infrastructures should not be captive to the prevalent method choice of ...
Identity, performativity, and HCI
CHI EA '12: CHI '12 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Identity is a theme spanning multiple discourses, such as feminist HCI, ICT4D and data control, becoming notable as a culturally understood phenomenon within third-wave HCI. This workshop extends current thinking about identity toward performative ...

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image Interacting with Computers

Interacting with Computers Volume 23, Issue 5

September, 2011

190 pages

ISSN:0953-5438

EISSN:1873-7951

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © British Informatics Society Limited. © 2011.

Publisher

Elsevier Science Inc.

United States

Publication History

Published: 01 September 2011

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Article

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

108
Total Citations
View Citations
0
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)0
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0

Reflects downloads up to 21 Oct 2024

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Rode JFeng YZhang HRosman RBastaman AKing JSamson MDong XWalker AHorton MRead JOliver MElmimouni H(2024)Playful Telepresence Robots with School ChildrenProceedings of the 13th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/3679318.3685367(1-16)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3679318.3685367
Qin YDuan WWu QLu Z(2024)Dismantling Gender Blindness in Online Discussion of a Crime/Gender DichotomyProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36536868:CSCW1(1-31)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3653686
Seaborn KGessinger IYoshida SCowan BDoyle P(2024)Cross-Cultural Validation of Partner Models for Voice User InterfacesProceedings of the 6th ACM Conference on Conversational User Interfaces10.1145/3640794.3665537(1-10)Online publication date: 8-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3640794.3665537
Janicki SRiggs AHowell NSullivan AStangl A(2024)Queering/Cripping Technologies of ProductivityExtended Abstracts of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3644067(1-12)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3644067
Joshi TBiggs HBardzell JBardzell S(2024)Who is “I”?: Subjectivity and Ethnography in HCIProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642727(1-15)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642727
Woodruff AShelby RKelley PRousso-Schindler SSmith-Loud JWilcox L(2024)How Knowledge Workers Think Generative AI Will (Not) Transform Their IndustriesProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642700(1-26)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642700
O'Neill DBirk MMandryk R(2024)Unpacking Norms, Narratives, and Nourishment: A Feminist HCI Critique on Food Tracking TechnologiesProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642600(1-20)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642600
Fujii TSeaborn KSteeds M(2024)Silver-Tongued and Sundry: Exploring Intersectional Pronouns with ChatGPTProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642303(1-14)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642303
Petterson AJaimes Rodriguez IDoggett OChandra P(2024)Networks of care in digital domestic labour economiesProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642200(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642200
Barros De Amorim ISantos Dos Santos SMoreira Miranda Da Silva IRios Da Hora Rodrigues KPereira Mota M(2023)Gender Nuances in Human-Computer Interaction ResearchProceedings of the XXII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3638067.3638077(1-12)Online publication date: 16-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3638067.3638077
Show More Cited By

View Options

View options

Get Access

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

View Issue’s Table of Contents