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Demands of mobile messaging ‘amplify patriarchal values’

    

Gendered interactive features can lead to women being left out of decision-making processes, study finds

Mobile phones and digital chat apps are not gender-neutral in their impacts and can overwhelm women with a barrage of workplace and domestic demands, a Massey University academic has said.

Debalina Dutta, a senior lecturer with the school of communication, journalism and marketing, interviewed 35 women in male-dominated science professions such as technology, engineering and mathematics.

She found that women were often excluded from informal workplace communication channels such as video chats and text messaging. This meant many women were sidelined in decision-making.

The results are published online in the journal Sex Roles.

“Our mobile devices are full of really cool features, but these things are not [gender] neutral,” Dutta said in a university statement.

“They actually amplify the patriarchal values that are part of our culture. The ability to contact someone at all times means women are expected to be constantly available in their homes and in their workspaces.”

While mobiles and chat apps give women the flexibility to combine family and work roles, they can create additional demands, she said.

“Interactive devices give them the flexibility on one hand to continue working with children. However, it also means their role as family caregiver does not stop when they are at work, and they can still be contacted about work matters at home. These are gendered expectations that do not affect men to the same degree.”

Dutta also found that messaging apps in male-dominated workplaces could “remove women from important conversations”.

“Women can be completely excluded from informal chat groups, which can have implications for their careers. And sometimes, if they do join the chat group, they can feel isolated by the content of conversations, for example if the men in the group exchange messages and jokes they perceive as inappropriate and/or sexist,” she said.

“I think a lot of women feel they can’t win. Their friends and family expect them to be active members of chat groups, constantly uploading photos of the kids and responding to questions. Men don’t seem to have the same expectations made of them so, when at work, it’s fine for them to be fully focused on work.”