Gender Perspectives in the Analysis of Virtual Work

One of the core aims of the EU COST Action on The Dynamics of Virtual Work (dynamicsofvirtualwork.com) is to bring together the research perspectives and problematics of different disciplinary approaches to developments in virtual work, in order to create an intellectual dialogue to advance our understanding of these developments.  Although virtual workers have two sexes, so that gender is at the core of every aspect of virtual work, notably absent from many accounts of both workplace and technological developments has been a recognition of their gender dimensions.  Drawing on the expertise of leading researchers and writers on the gender relations of virtual work, this workshop will focus explicitly on the contribution of a gender perspective to an understanding of the development and implications of virtual work.

The aims of the workshop are to:

• highlight the value of a gender perspective in the analysis of the development and implications of virtual work, and to support the use of this perspective among members of the Action;
• review theoretical developments in gender and their application to virtual work; and
• contribute to the positioning of the Action’s analyses within current international thinking on gender and virtual work.