Why Tech Is Feminist

Over the long arc of modern history, technology has been one of the most effective engines of women’s liberation—independently of the attitudes or intentions of the mostly male people who built it. From washing machines and telephones to reproductive technologies such as IVF, technological changes have expanded women’s autonomy by enabling their education, paid work, entrepreneurship, and personal freedoms. By reducing the burden of physical labour needed to enable a household to survive and function, these advances have loosened the link between sex and economic dependence. In emerging economies grappling with energy poverty, the pattern is even starker: electrification has proven to be among the few reliable forces capable of freeing women from gruelling labour, while sharply reducing the risks of childbirth, early childhood mortality, and maternal death.