Some of our work on gender

It is our belief that no piece of research is complete unless it takes account of gender as an independent variable and that no policy document is adequate unless it addresses issues of equality of opportunity. However we also think it can be dangerous to regard gender (or, indeed, race or disability) as homogenous and unvarying, so that 'men', 'women', 'black people', 'white people' or 'the disabled' are assumed to have common interests which can be represented adequately by a few token individuals.

It is also dangerous to assume that people from any given category can speak only about their experiences as members of that category. Black people are not only (or necessarily) experts on race. They are just as likely to be able to give an overview of any other subject as are white people. Similarly, women are not necessarily expert on the subject of gender or inexpert on other subjects.

Within each of these groups there is infinite variety and every individual has something unique to express which transcends these categories. The justification for using them is that many, if not most, social institutions still diminish this individual potential by conscious or unconscious systems of categorisation or stereotyping which result in inequalities. While people are still treated unequally because they are female, or black or disabled, then it is necessary for social researchers to continue to think in these categories, and monitor the differences.

Here are some publications by Ursula Huws which explicitly address issues of gender and inequality. 

Changing patters of segregation and power relations in the workplace (with Simone Dahlmann and Maria Stratigaki), Report from the WORKS project, Higher Institute of Labour Studies, Leuven, 2008

'Women, Participation and Democracy in the Information Society  in Shade, L. and Sarikakis, K. (eds)  Feminist International Communication Studies,  Rowman and Littlefield, forthcoming  

'Heimarbeit', (with Candeias, M), in Historisch-kritische Worterbuch des Feminismus, Argument-Versand, 2004

How can we help?  Good Practice in Call Centre Employment, (with Paul, J.) European Trade Union Confederation, Brussels, 2002

Equality and Telework in Europe in  European Trade Union Confederation, 2001

‘The Changing Gender Division of Labour in the Transition to the Knowledge Society’ in Rubenson, K. and Schuetse, H.G. (eds) Transition to the Knowledge Society:  Policies and Strategies for Inidividual Participation and Learning, University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver, 2000

'Telearbeit in Europa/Teleworking in Europe' in Arbeit 2002:Zukunft der Frauen/Employment 2002:  the Future for Women, Cyba, E. and Knipp, M. (eds) Federal Ministry for Women's Affairs, Austria,  in association with the European Commission and Archimedia (bilingual German/English), Vienna, 1999

'Teleworking and telematics' in Women'space, Volume 4 no 1, 1999
'Flexible Labour Markets and Equality Between the Sexes:  threat or opportunity?' in Mosconi, N., (ed) Égalité des Sexes en Éducation et Formation, Presses Universitaries de France, Paris, 1998

'Gender and Economic Restructuring in the UK' in Gender, British Council Briefing Issue 1, British Council in association with Change, 1996 http://www.britcoun.org/social/ecres.htm

Virtually Free:  Gender, Work and Spatial Choice, NUTEK, Sweden, September, 1997 (co-editor, with Gunnarsson, E. and author of two chapters)

'Autonomy, power and gender: telematics and the paradox of choice' in forthcoming book (title unknown) edited and published by SIF, Sweden
'Bread and Roses: reflections on women's politics at the end of the twentieth century' in Red Pepper, October, 1997

Teleworking and Gender, European Commission DGV Equal Opportunities Unit, May, 1996

'Le Télétravail', in Diversification du Temps de Travail, Itineraires Professionels et Egalité Professionnelle' , Conseil Superieur de l'Egalité Professionnelle, Ministère des Affaires Sociales, de la Santé et de la Ville, France, February, 1996

Follow-up to the White Paper- Teleworking, European Commission Directorate General V, September, 1994, also published as Social Europe, Supplement 3, European Commission DGV, 1995 (includes section on equality of opportunity)

'Teleworking and Training for Women' in Franceskides, R. and De Troy, C. (eds) A Wider Vision: Reflections on Women's Training, IRIS, 1995

'Reflections on Twenty Years Research on Women and Technology', in Mitter and Rowbotham, eds, Women Encounter Technology, UN University Instititute of Technology and Routledge, 1995

Gertie Roche, Policy Research Unit, Leeds Polytechnic, 1992 (an extended article about a remarkable woman, active in politics, trade unions and the women's movement in the North of England from the 1920s to the 1980s)

'The Global Restructuring of Service Industries and its Implications for Women' in IRENE Newsletter, Industrial Restructuring Network Europe, March, 1991

'Equality with Whom? Tensions between the Individual and Collective Aspirations of Women in the Workplace' in, The Construction of Sex/Gender. What is a Feminist Perspective?, Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and the Social Sciences, 1990

'Women's Health at Work', in Silent Health, Camerawork, 1990

'Grasping the Political Nettle: Job Design' in Women and the Built Environment Quarterly, Issue 14: the Office, 1990

Negotiating Equality, Workers Education Association, Studies for Trade Unionists Series, October l989

What Price Flexibility?: the Casualisation of Women's Employment, (co-author with Hurstfield, J. and Holtmaat, R.), Low Pay Unit, September l989

'Danger: women at work', New Statesman & Society, March l989

Negotiating for Equality, a guide to tackling sex discrimination in collective agreements, Equal Opportunities Commission, l988

Women's Employment in Brent, Brent Local Economy Resource Unit, for the London Borough of Brent, 1988

Women Working, A Woman's Guide to Rights at Work , Channel 4 Publications, l988

'Bargaining for Equality', Labour Research, April 1987

Equal Opportunities for Local Authority Workers: the Trade Union Experience in Seven London Boroughs, London Strategic Policy Unit, Empirica, 1987

Home Sweet Workplace: Report of a survey into the employment needs of people with severe disabilities with particular reference to homeworking, GLC Equal Opportunities Group, 1986 (co-author with Ashok, H. and Hall, J.) (looks inter alia at the interactions of gender, race and disability in structuring patterns of dependence)

'The effects of AI on women's lives', in Artificial Intelligence for Society, ed Gill, K.S., John Wiley, 1986

Who Cares?, a survey of childcare facilities in Greater London, GLC Equal Opportunities Group, 1985

'Ten years of women's employment' in The Invisible Decade, eds Ashton, G. and Bannerjee, L., Gower Press, 1985

'Hiraeth' in Truth Dare or Promise: Girls Growing up in the Fifties, Heron, L (ed), Virago, 1985

'Le moderne lavoratrici a domicilio', in Terminal Donne, eds Manacorda, P.M. and Piva, P., Studi e Richerche 46, Edizioni Lavoro, Rome 1985

'Terminal Isolation: the Atomisation of Work and Leisure in the Wired Society', in Making Waves, Radical Science 16, Winter/Spring 1985

Keying into Careers: Opportunities for Keyboard Operators in the GLC's Central Reprographic Service and Central Computer Service, Greater London Council Equal Opportunities Group, 1984

'Opening Address, ISIS International Conference on New Technology and Women's Employment', ISIS Bulletin, Geneva, Autumn 1983

Your Job in the Eighties: a woman's guide to the effects of new technology, Pluto Press, 1982

'Chips on the Cheap: South East Asian Women Pay the Price', in Scarlet Women No 14, January, 1982

'Domestic Technology: liberator or enslaver?' in Scarlet Women, No 14, January 1982, reprinted in Sweeping Statements: Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement 1981-1983, eds Kanter, Lefanu, Shah and Spedding, The Women's Press, 1984

New Technology and Women's Employment: Case Studies from West Yorkshire, Equal Opportunities Commission, 1982

The Impact of New Technology on Women's Employment in West Yorkshire, Leeds Trade Union and Community Resource and Information Centre, 1980