Are We “There” Yet? The Treatment of Gender and Feminism in Technical, Business, and Workplace Writing Studies

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jan 2016

Are We “There” Yet? The Treatment of Gender and Feminism in Technical, Business, and Workplace Writing Studies

Kate White Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne ; Suzanne Kesler Rumsey Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne ; Stevens Amidon Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne

Abstract

This article reexamines the treatment of gender and feminism in technical, business, and workplace writing studies—areas in which the three of us teach. Surprisingly, the published discourse of our field seems to implicitly minimize the gendered nature of business and technical writing workplaces and classrooms. To understand this apparent lack of focus, we review five technical and business communication academic journals and build on previous quantitative evaluations done by Isabelle Thompson in 1999 and by Isabelle Thompson Elizabeth Overman Smith in 2006. We also review nine popular textbooks using a content analysis method based on Thompson’s work. Finally, we discuss current research in feminist pedagogies vis-à-vis these results and our own experiences in the professional writing classroom.

Journal: Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published: 2016-01-01
DOI: 10.1177/0047281615600637
Open Access: Closed
Topics: technical communication professional writing gender and writing multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

Hunter (2024)

Toward TPC-UX: UX Topics in TPC Journals 2013–2022

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Tham (2024)

The CCCC Outstanding Dissertation Award in Technical Communication, 2004–2022: …

Technical Communication Quarterly
Petersen et al. (2018)

Bridging Analysis and Action

Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Grant-Davie et al. (2017)

Helping Doctoral Students Establish Long-Term Identities as Technical Communica…

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

Cites in this index (18)

Hallenbeck (2012)

User Agency, Technical Communication, and the 19th-Century Woman Bicyclist

Technical Communication Quarterly
Matsuda et al. (2011)

Globalizing Writing Studies: The Case of U.S. Technical Communication Textbooks

Written Communication
Rumsey (2009)

Heritage Literacy: Adoption, Adaptation, and Alienation of Multimodal Literacy Tools

College Composition and Communication
Amidon et al. (2008)

Wrestling With Proteus

Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Goby (2007)

Business Communication Needs

Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Show all 18 →

Zdenek (2007)

“Just Roll Your Mouse Over Me”: Designing Virtual Women for Customer Service on…

Technical Communication Quarterly
Thompson et al. (2006)

Women and Feminism in Technical Communication—An Update

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Royal (2005)

A Meta-Analysis of Journal Articles Intersecting Issues of Internet and Gender

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Lippincott (2003)

Rhetorical Chemistry

Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Devoss et al. (2002)

Teaching Intracultural and Intercultural Communication

Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Koerber (2000)

Toward a Feminist Rhetoric of Technology

Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Herrick (1999)

“And Then She Said”

Journal of Business and Technical Communication
THOMPSON (1999)

Women and Feminism in Technical Communication

Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Gurak et al. (1994)

Making gender visible: Extending feminist critiques of technology to technical …

Technical Communication Quarterly
LaDuc et al. (1994)

The critical eye, the gendered lens, and “situated”; insights—feminist contribu…

Technical Communication Quarterly
CARRELL (1991)

Gender Scripts in Professional Writing Textbooks

Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Bauer (1990)

The Other "F" Word: The Feminist in the Classroom

College English
Lay (1989)

Interpersonal Conflict in Collaborative Writing: What We Can Learn from Gender …

Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Also cites 16 works outside this index ↓

10.1177/048661349002200207

↗
10.2307/378261

↗
10.1177/0021943606288775

↗
10.17763/haer.59.3.058342114k266250

↗
Eschenbach, E., Cashman, E., Waller, A. & Lord, S. (2005). Incorporating feminist pedagogy into the engineeri…

↗
Faludi, S. (2013). Facebook feminism, like it or not. The Baffler, 23. Retrieved from http://thebaffler.com/a…

↗
10.2307/357697

↗
10.1186/1471-2431-5-20

↗
10.2307/3178066

↗
10.1016/S1075-2935(96)90004-5

↗
10.1007/978-3-642-00742-2_41

↗
10.1177/1080569910367611

↗
10.1109/TPC.2008.2000341

↗
10.1177/0021943608319387

↗
10.1177/1080569905281758

↗
Rumsey S. K. (2012)

10.1353/clj.2011.a471036

Community Literacy Journal ↗

CrossRef global citation count: 12 View in citation network →