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The digital industries in the United Kingdom are said to have specific ‘image problems’. Public sector policy-makers and commentators have argued that few women choose to enter this sector because there is a misfit between its dominant image as ‘geeky’, technical and masculine, and women workers' self-perceptions. Drawing on Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity, this article juxtaposes these public policy claims with recruitment literature which seeks to disrupt or shift away from traditional stereotypes of the digital industries worker. This article considers the unintended consequences of these discursive objects and argues that they contribute to the re-inscription of gender norms rather than their disruption. The analysis identifies repetitions of particular discursive practices which fix gender offering only narrowly legible worker subject roles with which women workers are expected to find their fit. This article argues that attention to discursive performativity in official public texts and visual and textual organisational artefacts offers a means for enhanced understanding of the transformations and continuities of inequalities within contemporary work domains.
Notes
On 28 June 2007, the DTI and the Department for Education and Skills (DFES) were disestablished and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) was formed. DIUS took over the science and innovation responsibilities from the DTI and the skills, further and higher education responsibilities from the DFES. The BERR was also established at this time to cover the remaining responsibilities of the DTI, as well as those of the Better Regulation Executive. In 2009, the DIUS and BERR were merged to create the BIS.
I have only presented Puwar's (2004) analysis of gender here but it is important to note that a major contribution of her work is around the intersectionality of gender and race in the construction of the ideal worker in the British civil service.
The terms ‘geek’ and ‘hacker’ are often used interchangeably, although some theorists argue that these terms refer to distinct types of individual who engage in computing work. For example, in contrast to geek, the term hacker is more often used to convey individuals who are anti-authoritarian and at the margins of mainstream society (Levy 1984; Håpnes and Sørensen 1995).
The data is now somewhat dated and it is possible that current worker images have shifted from those presented here. Nevertheless, the substance of the analysis which considers the possibilities for and complexity of troubling gender in organisational practices and processes remains highly relevant.
For copyright reasons, the images described in this article cannot be reproduced here. However, all images are available in full colour at http://drproctor-thomson.tumblr.com/ (see Figure 1. Strategic Systems Solutions 2005).
See Figure 2. Vodafone (2003) at http://drproctor-thomson.tumblr.com/
See Figure 3. Deutsche Bank (2003/2005) at http://drproctor-thomson.tumblr.com/
See Figure 4. Logica (2003a, 2003b, 2003/2004) at http://drproctor-thomson.tumblr.com/
See Figures 5 and 6. Deloitte (2003a, 2003b) at http://drproctor-thomson.tumblr.com/