Moving Beyond “Gender and GIS” to a Feminist Perspectives on Information Technologies: The impact of welfare reform on women’s IT needs

In headline-grabbing reports called “Falling through the Net,” the United States’ Department of Commerce began reporting in 1999 an increasing gap between those who have access to information technology and those who do not, with poor people, minority populations, elderly people and women disproportionately losing ground (Department of Commerce 1999, NTIA 1999). The digital divide can be seen as part of a broader polarization of resources that benefits those who already possess technological skills, access to information (and information technologies), and a command of multiple literacies. The gender and race aspects of the digital divide relate to other disparities in that women and people of color are disproportionately likely to hold low-skill, low-wage jobs, with few benefits and little opportunity for advancement (Merrifield et al. 1997). These are often the types of jobs that provide the least access to learning about and using information technologies in work place settings, which further exacerbates the digital divide across all segments of technology use contexts.