Women’s Pathways to Digital Inclusion Through Digital Labour in Rural Farming Households

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigates how the digital divide in rural, agricultural Australia impacts women in significant and unexpected ways. Drawing on Marxist feminist perspectives on labour I ask, how do rural farming women access, use and manage digital connections and devices, and what role does gender play in the production of this ‘digital labour’? Based on interviews conducted in Far North Queensland, I provide an account of digital labour in rural farming households showing that women often have more interaction with digital technologies than their male counterparts because they are responsible for domestic activities that are increasingly being conducted online. Women’s consequent greater digital expertise enables them to forge pathways to digital inclusion and self-determination. Further analysis using Ursula Huws' ([2019]. Labour in Contemporary Capitalism: What Next? London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.) typology of labour confirms binary gender-based distribution of digital labour, but problematises how value is assigned to this work, in rural farming households. The research contributes to emergent understandings of digital labour and digital inclusion scholarship in rural contexts.