Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Professor Deborah ChambersORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Past techno-feminist studies have shown that smart home technologies (SHTs) have inadvertently increased household demand for energy and reinforced gender disparities. This confirms the need to gauge any changes in smart home visions, given that the domestication of SHTs depends on accurate and reliable technology and messages to householders. To determine whether smart home visions are now supporting more gender-equitable household practices and energy efficiency, a content analysis of marketing materials (n = 36) is presented. In the context of domestication and the concept of agency scripts, the results show that smart home visions continue to disregard diverse household types and fail to address either energy efficiency or the household burdens placed on women. This triggers an enquiry into the negative implications for both women's wellbeing and energy-saving goals. Feminist care ethics indicate how smart home visions can be attuned to promote gender-equitable practices and energy reduction. By accenting the mutual interdependence between humans and technologies and developing a household care practice approach, a realignment of smart home visions towards a care ethic is proposed. Strategies for repurposing SHTs as technologies of care that care for householders and the environment are offered in conclusion.
Author(s): Chambers D
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Buildings and Cities
Year: 2022
Volume: 3
Issue: 1
Pages: 663 - 676
Print publication date: 07/09/2022
Online publication date: 02/09/2022
Acceptance date: 07/08/2022
Date deposited: 09/09/2022
ISSN (electronic): 2632-6655
Publisher: Ubiquity Press
URL: https://doi. org/10.5334/bc.220
DOI: 10.5334/bc.220
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
