Pink Collar Blues

The wordprocessor has revolutionized the workplace but exactly what changes have computers brought to our working lives -- and who benefits? Will it mean that women's skills are increased -- or devalued? What are "women's skills"? And how can the information revolution be turned to women's advantage? With one-third of women workers in clerical jobs, the links between the women's movement and the computer revolution are many and subtle. The impact of technological change on women's work, and on women's wages, is still to be fully felt, let alone fully understood. "Pink collar blues" explores these issues. It analyzes the connections between gender relations and the new technologies. With contributors from the USA , Europe and Australia, it gives an international overview of the power relations implicit in the way work is organized and how these relations influence the introduction and outcomes of new technology. All those concerned with industrial relations and women's role in the workforce will read this book with interest and profit. "Dr Belinda Probert is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre of International Research on Communication and Information Technologies.She is the author of "Beyond orange and green: the political economy of the Northern Ireland crisis" and "Working life: arguments about work in Australian society". Bruce W. Wilson is the Director of the Union Research Centre on Office Technology. He is the co-author of "Confronting school and work, Shaping futures" and "Social division, economy and schooling.