bangkit.net

GENDER STUDIES PROGRAMME*
*FACULTY OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES*
*UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA*

*INVITATION TO*

*GENDER STUDIES SEMINAR SERIES 2008*
WOMEN LEARNING TO LABOR IN CYBERJAYA, MALAYSIA.

*BY*
*LISA MCLAUGHLIN*

*Date & Time*
*26th June 2008, 3.00 p.m.*

*Venue:*
*Dean’s Meeting Room 1, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, *
*University** of Malaya***

*ABSTRACT*

This presentation describes research exploring the political economy of
“intelligent” cities and regions as well as on the experiences of young
women learning ICT work skills in educational institutions meant to help
develop and sustain national and global knowledge economies. The Malaysia
Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) and its “smart city,” Cyberjaya, are the
main geographic/cultural contexts for this work. As well, the research is
part of an overall project exploring the intersections among national and
international development policy frameworks which identify women as valuable
resources for the creation of knowledge economies, the political-economic
dynamics of industry, academic, and government partnerships meant to prepare
women for skills-intensive employment in technology-based companies, and
women’s social experiences of learning and working in the field of
information and communication technology (ICT). Context-specific, feminist
research reveals a far more nuanced scenario than what is presumed within
conventional ICT-for-development policy discourse, as it requires one to
complicate the idea of empowerment gained through technology work by
situating the enactment of agency within limitations imposed by structural
dimensions of power that have led to the expansion of ICT industries and
labor through the inclusion of women. Although the young women learning to
labor in ICT in Cyberjaya often are defined as “targets” within
public-private partnership-driven initiatives for developing the national
knowledge economy, the imperative of this research is to view them as
knowing subjects while conducting individual semi-structured interviews and
focus group sessions. As will be discussed, throughout the interviews with
16 postsecondary female students studying at Multimedia University, a number
of interlocking themes and patterns emerged, associating women’s social
experiences in learning to work in the cyber-industrial complex
withtechnology saturation, mobility, and migration in a context in
which there
are complex negotiations between women’s status in the realm of both
traditional culture and global knowledge/information work.

*PROFILE OF SPEAKERS*

Lisa McLaughlin, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Miami University-Ohio,
USA, where she holds a joint appointment in Media Studies and Women’s
Studies. She is a founding editor and co-editor of *Feminist Media Studies*,
an international, peer-reviewed journal published by Routledge, and has
authored numerous publications on feminist political economy of
communications, transnational feminism, gender and ICT initiatives conducted
through public-private partnerships, and women’s status and experiences as
information workers in the context of national and international development
initiatives.

*For further inquires, please contact Sazali: 03-7967 5485 (DL) or email
are_lee@um.edu.my Thank you.***