Technological Change and Cultural Ceilings

Abstract

Recent history of technological change in South and South-East Asia has demonstrated that institutions — their structures and procedures — and cultures are not compatible with the enduring traditions of women’s domesticity and inferiorized roles. Women are on the move to enhance their capacity for autonomous action in the face of constricting social, cultural sanctions for gender inequalities. While a large number of women continues to work in gendered homes and work sites, balancing work and domestic responsibilities with little help from men, there is an ongoing struggle of these women to challenge the embedded patriarchal relations within the family and in the industry. Conceding that there are socially sanctioned gender inequalities in the market, many women prefer to work outside the home in the attempt to improve their social position and construct a greater scope to enhance their agency (the capacity for autonomous action) rather than to be subject to family-based dependency and coercion. These issues were discussed in the courses taught by the author at ifu.