So, when I see technology, I see not just techne -- the technique or tool on the table before me; I see also the logos -- the web or system of social relations and organizations, the assumptions and values which provided the rational framework for developing and deploying the final product. I see not just the birth-control pill, but the assumptions about subordinating one's reproductive life to the demands of one's productive life, the concept of "unwanted pregnancies" and the people who defined the context for birth-control in those terms. Beside the pill and the IUD I see a blank space representing the absence of effective semen control by men.

AISLA: In 1981, your much publicized and at the time, controversial book, Women and the Chip, was published. In it you outlined how technological change was and would continue marginalizing and de-skilling women's work. Do you believe that this is still the case?

HEATHER: I have to laugh. I thought to my-self: no matter what the question, I must keep this answer short. Now you ask what' s changed since Women and the Chip came out. Mind you I could confine myself to a simple yes. Yes, the trends are still very much in evidence, and digging deeper into the social fabric of our society as the middle class or middle ground is undermined. We're seeing the emergence of a two-tier society, with the majority of working women, blue-collar workers and a disproportionate number of young people geologized in the lower tier.

Although I identified a polarization of the work force as one of three major trends, I hadn't understood either how major this would be, how politically significant. What's become clear is that computer-communications, at the level of integrated information and materials-processing systems, are cutting a swath through the middle of the occupational ladder, taking out middle managers but not senior managers, skilled workers but not unskilled workers. The organizational pyramid is shrinking and turning into an hourglass, with a small network of highly educated, computer-literate professionals, managers and executives, employed full-time with full benefits at the top, and an array of techno support staff at the bottom, working on a part-time or shift work basis, often for minimum pay and with few benefits. In what seems to be part of a new global division of labour, some of the techno-support work is being relocated into so-called underdeveloped countries such as


RESOURCE

A HIGH TRAFFIC AREA:
TODAY'S AUTOMATED OFFICE

Times Change Women's Employment Service, a non-profit community agency in Toronto, is concerned that many unemployed women seeking work in clerical occupations are unable to do so even when they had previous experience in the area. Most affected were older women, immigrant women and women who had been forced to apply for clerical jobs because jobs in other fields were not available.

Aided by a grant from Labour Canada's Technological Impact Research Fund, Times Change undertook a research project to study the impact of technological change on accounting/bookkeeping clerks, receptionist/ switchboard operators, and file/mail/inventory clerks. Interviews were conducted with sixty companies and organizations in Toronto, and with fifty-four clients, half of who were seeking work and half of whom had found employment in the clerical sector.

Researchers Pat Bird and Jo Lee made some startling findings. "Downsizing" is occurring, resulting in some job loss through attrition. While wages are stagnating, new hirees are expected to have increased education and skills as well as take on extra duties such as data entry.

A two-tier clerical workforce seems to be emerging. Those already employed have received some assurances of continued employment, but are doing more work, using more skills and being paid about the same as before. Also, older workers, workers with little formal education and immigrant workers whose first language is not English, experience the greatest difficulty in finding secure employment in today's automated office.

The researchers concluded that increased clerical unemployment is one of the serious and negative impacts of new technology in the office.

Copies of "A High Traffic Area: Today's Automated Office" are available for $15.00 plus postage at Times Change, 22 Divisively Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4S 1E9, (416) 487-2807.


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