Feminism and Constructivism: Do Artifacts have Gender

This article explores possibilities for establishing dialogues between feminism and constructivism in the field of technology studies. Based on an overview of Norwegian feminist debates about technology, it indicates several points where feminism and constructivism meet and can mutually benefit from each other. The article critically examines feminist studies questioning the problems of technological determinism, social deternacnism, and essentialism. It criticizes constructivism for a lack of concern for gender and politics but holds that it is still possible to use theoretical tools from constructivism in feminist analyses. Fruitful dialogues require the application of the principle of symmetry to the dcalogues and sharing some common ground and mutual recognation of each other’s strengths and weaknesses The &dquo;new&dquo; constructivist sociology of technology promises a better grasp of the complexities of technological development. As feminist researchers, we see this as an interesting challenge also to the emerging field of feminist research on technology. The aim of this article is to explore the possibilities of establishing dialogues between feminism and constructivism. We base our reflections and suggestions on our own experiences of working with feminist technology studies in Norway since 1980, which by the end of the 1980s led us to constructivism.2 AUTHORS ’ NOTE This article refers to the authors ’ expenences within the Women an