Genus och informationsteknik : En studie av kön/genusrelationer bland bibliotekspersonal

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to examine sex/gender relations amongst staff in public libraries who have taken part in projects related to information technology. This is done through e-mail surveys and telephone interviews with staff who have participated in the development of the two library websites Mina bibliotek and Biblioteket.se regarding their experiences. The theoretical basis for the analysis is two gender theoretical perspectives with reference to technology. The first perspective is represented by Yvonne Hirdman’s theory concerning the gender system, in which women and men are kept apart and in which there is always a hierarchy where men are higher up, and Hanna Westberg-Wohlgemuth’s theory concerning sex marking of job-tasks. The second perspective is concerned with positive change through alternative understandings and definitions of gender and information technology, where not only men can be seen as competent in relation to information technology, and is represented by Christina Mörtberg and Pirjo Elovaara. The study shows tendencies towards separation of women and men and sex marking of job-tasks, in that more men work with tasks traditionally defined as technical, but the differences in status between tasks is not that present. Library related competence is seen as important for the development of the websites as more traditional technical competence. At the same time many tasks and competences relevant for the development of the websites are not defined as technical and a slim definition of information technology that only includes traditional technical competence can therefore be questioned and criticized.