This text explores the impact of information and communications technologies on the changing economic relationship between Europe and the Developing World, in the context of telematics-related trade, work organization and distance education. The contributors elucidate the reasons why the phenomenon of globalization need not be a battleground of competing nations. The essays written by researchers and practitioners, from the European Union and Developing Countries, identify the areas where policy interventions could lead to "co-operative competition" between the EU and the developing world. The book contains empirical data and should be of particular interest to scholars and policymakers engaged with the questions of spatial division of labour, emerging trading links, information processing work, the "brain-drain" and tele-education.

This collection explores the effects of new technologies on women's employment and on the nature of women's work in the Third World. The challenges women face in less affluent communities in adjusting to new technologies are discussed along with their responses and organizing strategies. Contributors outline the roles that family, ideology, state policies and trade union structures can play in distributing information on technology-related employment between women and men. The differences in the interests and needs of different groups of women are highlighted, challenging the concept of a monolithic, specifically feminine vision of technology and science. A critique of postmodernism and ecofeminism is also provided. In looking at the impact of information technology on the working lives of women in the Third World, this volume lays a foundation for further debate and research in this area.

Series Information:
UNU/INTECH Studies in New Technology and Development

"Dignity and Daily Bread" compares the lives of women in the First and Third worlds and examines how women have organized forms of production themselves. Covering a wide range of issues and areas, from cotton production in Bombay, conditions in Mexico and in some of the Far East economies, the contributors begin to break down some of the ideological barriers that colonialism and racism build among women. The immediacy of the accounts highlights women's conditions in very different patriarchal societies.

"Dignity and Daily Bread" compares the lives of women in the First and Third worlds and examines how women have organized forms of production themselves. Covering a wide range of issues and areas, from cotton production in Bombay, conditions in Mexico and in some of the Far East economies, the contributors begin to break down some of the ideological barriers that colonialism and racism build among women. The immediacy of the accounts highlights women's conditions in very different patriarchal societies.

Focusing on the European telecommunications sector, which holds a vital strategic position in an economy that relies on information-processing activities, this book highlights the largely untapped skills and potential contribution women employees can make to total quality programmes. It explains how the principle of equality-driven total quality can be extended to encompass the full diversity of a workforce, and how the principles involved can be applied to other industrial sectors.

Drawing on the experiences of four major EC countries, this book documents the way computer technology has changed the pattern of women's work in the manufacturing sector. The sixteen contributors are leading authorities on the subject and analyse how technology has transformed employment in the clothing industry, which is still the major employer of female blue-collar workers in the EC. The contributors assess the aspects of computerisation that particularly affect women's employment opportuni- ties: flexible hours, flexible work locations and flexible specialisation. The book also contains evaluations of post-Fordism and human-centred technology, two leading issues in the debate about the applications of artificial intelligence and computer-aided technology. These essays highlight a growing polarisation in the job market and suggest training schemes which can equip women for technical and managerial employment. This is a pioneering work; so far, most of the literature on women and computerisation has focussed on office automation and data processing. Computer-aided Manufacturing and Women's Employment makes an important contribution to the fields of technology, employment, women's work, business management and trade union studies.