A PEEK INTO THE HOME : GENDERED ACCOUNTS OF DOMESTIC TECHNOLOGIES

Abstract

A Peek Into The Home ... The present study takes a social psychological peek into the home -- a 'private' arena of domestic practices that remain largely unseen and unspoken of outside its doors. Through accounts of domestic technologies given by husbands and wives, this research explores the meanings assigned to such possessions by men and women. Comparisons are then made between genders. This study aims to provide insights into the phenomenon of the possession-identity link, focusing specifically on domestic technological possessions and social gender identity, in the context of the family home. Gendered Accounts of Domestic Technologies ... In general, although similarities exist in the accounts of men and women, significant disparities are also discovered. Women and men are found to value not only different home technologies, but also the same technologies for different reasons, signifying different uses and hence different meanings and understanding of such objects. These disparities between the genders are reflective of differences in identities and roles in the home. Social class and ethnicity are subsequently analysed and found to influence the relationship between gender and perceptions of domestic technologies. These intervening structural factors have effected some fine differences within each gender category, between members of different socio-cultural categories. This study researches into an area hitherto neglected in Singapore, and contributes to an understanding of the relationship between meanings of domestic technologies and gender identity, roles and relations in the 'private' domain of the home.