Gender as a Factor in the Uptake and Use of ICTs on Family Farms in Southern Queensland,Australia

Abstract

It is often suggested that farming women 's increased access to technology, particularly information and communication technologies (ICTs), will increase their power on the farm and in related agribusiness activities. A study of the use of ICTs on family cotton farms in southern Queensland, Australia, sought to discover whether tools such as cellular phones, CB radios, computers, fax machines, and the telephone had gendered patterns of usage. An analysis of these patterns of usage, applying a well-known theory of the social construction of gender and technology, was carried out in the context of family cotton farms in Southern Queensland, Australia. The focus of the analysis was on the gender-based division of labor and on the power relations embodied in the usage of the technologies. The study found that access to such technologies did not result in appreciable changes in women 's power, nor in changes to the established gender-based division of labor. It is, therefore, highly unlikely that Internet-based ICTs will deliver on their promises of women 's empowerment, particularly in family farm contexts.