FEMINIST RESEARCH IN TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION: AN ANNOTATED
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Kara M. Payton
Dr. G. Getto
English 6702
27 September 2015
Technical Communication Classroom Writing, Culture, Ethics and Gender
Allen, Jo. (2009, March 11). Women and Authority in Business and Technical Communication
Scholarship: Analysis of Writing Features, Methods, and Strategies. Technical Communication
Quarterly, Vol 3, Issue 3, 271-292.
This study analyzes technical communication journal articles with women authors and questions
whether their word choice and tone is authoritative. The article calls for more research into how technical
writing instructors teach scholarly writing from a gender-bias viewpoint.
This article is relevant to my interests because I am looking to research the gender differences in how
scholars teach technical communication in taking into account gender differences in the classroom.
Dragga, Sam. (1993, July). Women and the Profession of Technical Communication: Social and
Economic Influences and Implications. Journal of Business and Technical Communication. Vol
7 no 3, 312-321.
This article explains that technical writing teachers are primarily women and what that implies for the
field. The article calls for scholars to educate students on salaries and proper working conditions so that
there is more awareness of women’s issues in the field.
I am interested in the social aspects of women in the classroom, and just how this historically male
dominated field is changing. Awareness of women’s concerns should be discussed in the classrooms
today.
Frost, Erin A. (2015, Sept 1). Apparent Feminism as a Methodology for Technical Communication and
Rhetoric. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, published online, retrieved from
Jbt.sagepub.com.
Ms. Frost introduces the term “apparent feminism” in which gender differences are handled neutrally,
which is in effect treating them with bias. She calls for care in treating gender issues in technical
communication ethically and fairly and with concern for women. She is concerned with political bias and
the decline in feminist work in technical communication over the last fifteen years.
FEMINIST RESEARCH IN TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION: AN ANNOTATED
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This fits into my interests because as Ms. Frost points out, there is a decline in the gender difference
issues in technical communication research. Most of the articles I have read see gender neutrality in
textbooks and classrooms as ignoring the social implications of gender difference in the classroom and
beyond. She calls for more research in this area.
Lay, Mary. (1993). “Gender Studies: Implications for the Professional Communication Classroom”.
Blyer, Nancy, Rounds, Thralls, Charlotte (Eds.), Professional Communication: The Social
Perpective.Sage. Newbury Park.
259-272.
The book is a collection of fourteen essays on the social aspects of technical writing in the
classroom. This article by Mary Lay is a Winner of a 1993 NCTE Award in Technical and Scientific
Communication.
This book is interesting to me because gender studies is an area where there is a “gap” in the research
in technical communication. Mary Lay was one of the first to do groundbreaking research in this area of
women and gender studies.
Lay, Mary M. (1989, September). Interpersonal Conflict in Collaborative Writing: What We Can Learn
From Gender Studies. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Vol 3, No 2, 5-28.
This is a study on how women and men collaborate on writing projects differently. Men and women
have different communication behaviors. According to the study, men tend to be more aggressive
verbally, problem-oriented and risk taking; women tend to self-disclose to gain trust, be more emotional
and read other’s emotions better, more cooperative and less willing to assume leadership. She calls for
both sexes to develop a spirit of cooperation in collaborative work. She calls for using journal writing to
identify emotions and develop proper strategies for the group work in classrooms.
I am interested in this study because of the different way women and men learn to work together in the
classroom and beyond. However, further research showed that there really are not many differences once
both assimilate into corporate or academic culture. I think that in the male-dominated classrooms,
teachers or professors have a difficult time incorporating the talk of women’s issues that still exist.
Thompson, Isabelle. (2004, July). Sex Differences in Technical Communication: A Perspective on Social
Role Theory. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication. Vol 34, 217-232.
The article calls for social change on women and technical communication. The article claims that sex
differences are perpetuated through social roles in the family and the workplace. She evaluates the latest
research in technical communication on sex differences and revisits the collaborative styles of men and
women, reminiscent of Mary Lay’s original article on interpersonal conflict in collaborative writing.
I am interested in this article because it is interesting to think the roles that family hierarchies and work
hierarchies perpetuate gender difference stereotypes.
FEMINIST RESEARCH IN TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION: AN ANNOTATED
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Women and the History of Technical Communication
Durack, Katherine. (1997, Summer). Gender, Technology, and the History of Technical Communication.
Technical Communication Quarterly, Vol 6 no 3, 249-260.
This article explains that scholarly articles that have largely left out women in the history of technical
communication, as “women’s work” is considered in the home domain and not as important as the work
world. The article points out that women’s technology differs from men’s, yet it is equally important in
history.
This article is of interest to me because we have to know history in order to have a good grasp of the
future of technical communication. The article defined technology to include tools from the home, such as
sewing machines or stoves. It explains how the Industrial Revolution separated the workplace from the
home, relegating women to the domain of the home. Interestingly, it points out that a typical “workplace”
is now going back to home, as more telecommuters and home-based businesses are the norm.
Gender and Technology
Hwang, Young Suk, Fisher, William, Vrongistinos, Konstntinos. (2009). Calibrating a Measure of Gender
Differences in Motivation for Learning Technology. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 36 (3),
This article is a study of middle school children and their feelings about technology. The study
finds that cultural influences affect girls’ feelings about studying technology in the classroom. Boys are
more motivated to learn technology. Girls’ lack of motivation was the key hindrance to girls learning
technology; and therefore, going into science and technology as a profession. The article calls for more
research on girls or women and technology, since much research has been done on girls and mathematics.
This article was of interest to me because I would like to know more about women and how they
learn technology in the classroom, and the cultural implications behind it. According to White et Al
(2015), technical communicators are mostly men, yet many of the English professors are women. In the
article, she states it is difficult to bring up women’s’ concerns in a male-dominated classroom. If more
research was done in this area, educators may become aware of the cultural influences behind motivation
to learn technology in the classroom
Vanzo, Rohrer Valentina, Stern, Tobias, Ponocny-Seliger, Elizabeth, Schwarzbauer, Peter, (2015).
Technical Communication in Assembly Instructions: An Empirical Study to Bridge the Gap
Between Theoretical Gender Differences and Their Practical Influence. Journal of Business and
Technical Communication, 1-30.
FEMINIST RESEARCH IN TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION: AN ANNOTATED
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This study examined gender differences in assembling a product, showing that technical writers should
target their writing to women when appropriate. The study’s results show women are more negatively
impacted by improper assembly instructions. The study is helpful to technical writers that want to target
their audiences.
I am interested in this study because it shows how gender differences really do impact technical
writers who want to target to all audiences.
Gender Differences and Brain Structure: How the Media Skews Scientific
Writing about Research
O’Connor, Cliodhna, Joffe, Helene. (2014). Gender on the Brain: A Case Study of Science
Communication in the New Media Environment, retrieved online from ProQuest.
A case study involving gender differences in the structure of the brain and how media shapes and
perpetuates negative gender stereotypes. The article traced the study’s impact from original scientific
study through media channels. O’Connor and Joffe (2014) question how scientific studies on sex
differences get skewed in the media and the ethical implications for researchers. The study involved
structural outcomes of the brains of 949 individuals aged between 8-22 years. Males showed greater
within hemisphere-connectivity and females showed greater between-hemisphere connectivity in all
regions except the cerebellum. The study sparked a debate and skewed results in the media.
I think it is interesting how scientific writing on sex differences is skewed in the media. The article
shows that the study perpetuated the myths of gender stereotypes and women being less intelligent than
men. I think it brings up a good point for the technical communicators to ethically think of what biases or
stereotypes that are in their own writings.
Overview of Feminist Research in Technical Communication
Thompson, Isabelle, Overman, Elizabeth. (2006). Women and Feminism in Technical Communication
—An Update. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, Vol 36(2), 183-199.
She conducts a study on twenty-one journal articles containing the subject of feminism and gender
differences in technical communication. The study identifies keywords like “gender” or “women” in their
titles. She also tracks the themes in the studies from 1997 to 2002, and that feminist critics in technical
communication went from radical non-equality cries to postmodern feminism that calls for critique
outside of the field. In other words, technical communication researcher’s interest in gender and feminism
has declined over the last fifteen years, and this article calls for more research.
This study was interesting because gender differences in technical communication is becoming less of
a topic of research, leaving a “gap” for further research articles. I wonder why the decline in interest in
women and technical communication? I think it is a call for further research.
FEMINIST RESEARCH IN TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION: AN ANNOTATED
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Thompson, Isabelle. (1999). Women and Feminism in Technical Communication: A Qualitative Content
Analysis of Journal Articles Published in 1989 through 1997. Journal of Business and Technical
Communication. 13(2), 154-178. Retrieved from ProQuest Online.
This article is a study on 40 articles about women and feminism published in five technical writing
journals over a period of nine years. Study shows that women are gaining acceptance in the workplace,
but it is unclear if the workplace changed or they changed their behaviors to become more masculine.
Again, the study shows that the topics of research have become less radical and the research itself on
feminism and technical writing has dwindled.
I am interested in this study because it gives an overview of feminism and technical writing journal
articles. It points out a research “gap” in scholarly research today on gender difference, feminism and
technical communication. The study shows just what has been done in research in the field.
White, Kate, Rumsey-Kesler Suzanne, Amidon, Stevens, (2015). Are We “There” Yet? The Treatment
of Gender and Feminism in Technical, Business, and Workplace Writing Studies. Journal of
Technical Writing and Communication. Retrieved from jtw.sagepub.com September 18, 2015.
The study reviews research in feminism in technical communication. They conclude that gender issues
are a minor concern in business and technical writing classrooms and that little has been done to
challenge this state. The results show little has changed in the last twenty-five years. Also, the study
analyzes nine popular textbooks for gender bias terms. In the study, 863 articles were reviewed and only
twenty-two articles were on feminism. There was a significant decline in research on feminism and
technical communication from Thompson’s study in 1999.
Again, this article highlights the fact that business and technical writing is genderless and much of the
gender issues are ignored in the classroom and perpetuated in the workplace. The study points to a
research gap in feminism and technical communication.