Gender, Emancipation and Critical Information Systems

This paper addresses ways in which theorizing gender may be important in forming an understanding of the topic of emancipation which is central to the new critical information systems based on Habermas’s thinking. After briefly introducing current research on gender and IS and arguing that we need to look towards feminist philosophy for appropriate theory in order to understand foundational issues such as emancipation, the paper reflects on the reasons why technical disciplines may find feminist theory threatening. The development of feminist philosophy and epistemology is introduced. Habermas’s ‘ideal speech situation’ is problematized in relation to feminist writing on male and female communication juxtaposed with recent research in computer mediated communications. The paper continues by exploring the concept of emancipation through feminist epistemology and closes by analysing how these concerns may be applied to critical IS.