Among the central concerns of this project are such questions as: How is feminine technology distinctive? What do these distinctions tell us about technology and about women? How have Americans' cultural perceptions of gender differences shaped and been shaped by technological change? To explore such questions this project will examine seven `feminine` technologies, meaning technologies associated with women either by virtue of biological difference or by virtue of sex role prescription (especially through the division of labor). Unlike other studies of women and technology that focus on exceptional women using technologies that are predominantly masculine in character, this project will ask what sorts of technological knowledge common American women have historically possessed, how they have used that knowledge, and why women's technological knowledge has been largely undervalued.
