Three Basic Stages of the Development of Feminist History of Technology

This paper analyses the development backgrounds,process,and changes in the field of fem inist history of technology during past40 years.It suggests that ithasgone through three basic stages of development respectively:elite history,social history and cultural history.During this process,its historiographical approaches have shifted from “complementary history” to “critical history” and “diversified history”.The category of analysis has changed from biologicalsex to social gender;research contents have extended from genderand technology in western societies to the gender politics of technology in non-western societies.The aims of researches have undergone changes from striving for equalstatus of the sexes in the history of technology to revealing the patriarchal connotation of technology and eliminating the boundaries between “body and mind”, “woman and man”, “nature and culture” and “slavery and liberation”,and turning to new perspectives for historical evaluation.