ABSTRACT
In the 1960s, when the idea of using computers in economic activities was first floated in India, there was a wave of protest from trade unions and political parties who feared the impact of automation on future employment prospects. By the 1990s, computers had been partially accepted in some major service industries, particularly the communications industry, and to some extent in banking and financial services. However because these had also been some of the fastest growing sectors of the Indian economy, employment there continued to grow in spite of the technological changes. The period since the 1960s has also seen the government beginning to emphasize the minimization of employment discrimination against women, at least in the public sector. Since most of the growth industries mentioned above were under public management, women’s employment in those industries grew faster than in other sections of the economy. It has therefore been easy to conclude that, as in most other countries, the deploy-ment of electronic technology has on the whole been ‘gender friendly’.
