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Making techno-masala
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It's ubiquitous as a woman's life, this technology thing, helping her keep in touch, keep tabs, and juggle workplace and home
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The giver of smiles and forgiveness, hot breakfast, money, moral support, and absorber of all things in life including shocks, abuse, stress and bad jokes is perfectly designed at handling things that just come her way. A woman's power lies not just in opening her arms and mind wide to her family but also technology.
Beginning with the humble cooker and mixie and sewing machine, to cracking codes for American clients, enjoying music on her iPod, microwaving pizzas and chatting on the Internet, the Indian naari has come a long way in her complex relationship with technology. It's almost a love-hate relationship, the kind she has with men, most of the times. But many women would agree that technology is always the easier and simpler of the two relationships.
On International Women's Day, a random chat with women and their technological love-hates.
Hooked for good
Leela V. Prasad got hooked on to computers nearly 15 years ago, when her brother brought home their first machine. Now 57 and a special assistant at a State Bank of Mysore branch that is completely computerised, she is at home in the technowiz world.
She recalls how the first time someone gave her their email ID, she earnestly wrote down "at" in place of @. Today she chats with and emails her son and daughter-in-law in Australia, and has online conferences with her niece and sister. "I've also got myself the latest camera mobile phone with an MP3 player, equipped with Bluetooth technology," says the lady who thought nothing of changing a flat tyre when she rode a scooter. "My latest acquisition is a cordless iron!"
Technology has, for her, brought a lot of convenience and practical solutions — so she uses a microwave, dishwasher, hand blender, electric kettle, a chopper, and of course, the washing machine.
Keeping in touch
A lot of technology that draws women and drives them to learn its use today is communication or "keeping in touch". Checking mail or chatting with children living abroad or in other cities, using the cellphone to keep tabs on kids in an unsafe world, using the washing machine or dishwasher to save time and reduce dependence on a domestic employee.
The younger generation takes further to seek life partners on the Net. The latest report from the Internet and Mobile Association of India proudly proclaims how more than 12 million women now access the Internet. In fact, it says that 15 per cent of women online access it for "matrimonial purposes" and that 57 per cent of women access the Internet from home. Nearly 24 per cent use it for online banking, while 22 per cent shop online. Over 55 per cent of women log on to search for jobs.
The large number of women on the Net prompted Reliance Web World to start a CyberMom programme, calling all moms to "outsmart" their kids on the Net. The five-day programme teaches them the basics, including email, use of search engines, and video-conferencing.
Technology is not just a means to a comfortable existence, but also a hot career option. Increasingly the women workforce is growing in the fields of IT, BT, applied sciences, futuristic technologies, and high-end technology R&D. Being connected at home also helps some lucky women to either work from home or work out flexi hours at the workplace.
Joy Basu, a 34-year-old healthcare professional, travels at least three days a week. Her laptop and iPod are her constant travel companions. "Accessibility is very important for me. I need to be connected, and I'm obsessed with the laptop. I work with people in the U.S. and Singapore and tend to check mail at midnight too." The next thing on her mind is the Blackberry and a broadband connection. "Technology has its conveniences but you need to be disciplined to use it. I'm not passionate about technology, but I can't imagine how people lived without the cell." An organiser she had crashed and she lost 500 phone numbers!
Her husband is a techno-junkie and she, typically, gets all the hand-me-downs. "Ten years ago I got my first pager. Now I have three organisers lying in the cupboard, but what I really want is a high-resolution camera, as I'm interested in photography. I'm currently researching these options on the Net!" She also has a fancy for her high-powered juicer and bread-maker.
Roping in others
In IBM India, 23 per cent of the 38,500 work force constitute women. IBM has also shown concern over studies that have found that girls, in increasing numbers, have been opting out of the worlds of math, science, and technology as courses in school and as careers. Their Women in Technology (WIT) programme has IBM's technical women volunteering to reach out to over 2,000 schoolgirls in India in the past year, taking those between Class Six and Eight through a computer awareness session. The IBM EXITE (EXploring Interests in Technology and Engineering) Camps introduce girls to the wonder and promise of technical careers.
Yasmine Claire, 28, a psychology teacher at the Indus International School, uses infotech to work on lesson plans and demonstrate concepts to her Class 11 students, and raves about how students today are taught concepts in math and geography using 3D simulation. She also does a great deal of trouble-shooting on her system. She scoffs at actor Bruce Willis's rather sexist take: "On the one hand, we will never experience childbirth. On the other hand, we can open all our own jars."
Says Yasmine: "Technology just comes to women... we are made to do so much around the house that unless you have to do rocket science, we can do it without much learning!" Women would like to believe they have their own way with prising open jars and other things... At home they can easily fix electrical snags, loose wires, and do plug and socket replacements.
In IT major Infosys, nearly 18 per cent of the total women employees are in highly technical positions, involved in technical reviews, coding and configuration control of the project. They prepare project plans and schedules and manage timeliness, quality and productivity across projects. They coordinate business development and relationship with multiple customers.
Sound indicator
Women working in-flight and at airports or at cafés on their laptops is an indicator of how hooked they are to technology — at work or outside. A recent report talks of how women in Punjab are using webcams to complete the Karva Chauth ritual of "seeing the husband's face" before breaking the fast even as he is abroad. Just one more example of how women make sure tradition and technology have found sound partners in each other.
BHUMIKA K.
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