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9. Information technology, gender and employment

Introduction
Education and training
TELMAL: Gender and office employment
Computerization in TELMAL
Conclusion
Notes
References

A case study of the telecommunications industry in Malaysia

Cecilia Ng Choon Sim and Carol Yong

Introduction

Ever since the Industrial Revolution there has been an ongoing debate over the impact of technology on employment. This debate continues today in what is widely recognized as the second industrial revolution information technology. The objective of this chapter is to examine the impact of information technology on women's employment in Malaysia. Malaysia is a useful country to look at, given the present acceleration towards rapid industrialization and the government's intention to make information technology (IT) one of the key technologies in the nation's bid to become a developed country by the year 2020. The chapter also aims to explore the importance of gender, in relation to other factors such as ethnicity, in the stratification of occupations and jobs under the impact of computerization.

The above issues are discussed in relation to the telecommunications industry, on the basis of a case study of a major telecommunications company in Malaysia. Besides looking at new questions such as VDU-related health and safety issues, the case study also examines the role of unions in augmenting opportunities for women in the IT industry and in office employment.

Information technology and employment: the debate so far

The impact of IT on employment is not necessarily uniform. It can reduce clerical work to tedious and repetitive jobs and it can create innovative work and create new skills. It can fragment and control work and workers and it can broaden and allow more autonomy. The computer rationalization of production can be robust and more democratic, or algorithmic and more authoritarian (Albin and Appelbaum, 1988). Clearly, the direction of change in the organization of work depends on the strength and articulation of office workers themselves.

Struggles by office workers in Canada, France and Mexico reveal that the flexibility of IT can allow for worker participation in the design of information systems (Clement, 1991; Ormos and Blameble, 1989). Strong trade union demands coupled with a more open government (e.g. in the Scandinavian countries) can provide channels for participation from all levels of office staff in the planning of technological change. Feminist computer professionals are already combining participatory principles in the design of systems (Greenbaum, 1991). In Malaysia the struggles of office workers focus mainly on economic gains rather than political changes, as will be discussed later.

The impact of the introduction of IT cannot be analysed apart from its immediate context of social relations and the existing organization of work. The extent of the impact will also vary depending on the type of machines being installed, the period of installation and the existing labour processes which are being automated (Baran and Teegarden, 1987). Previous studies have tended to consider the impact of IT on clerical staff as an undifferentiated group, but different levels of office workers, men and women, and different ethnic groups may be differently affected. And while the new technology skills are being polarized by gender, it is also evident that women are entering computer professions in both the developed and developing countries, leading to class polarization within the female labour force itself.

It is also important to look at the broader social, economic and political context, as this is reflected in relationships at work. Since society is based on hierarchy, and technology is a medium of power, one needs to understand how power is negotiated. This means that deskilling and intensification of work are not inevitable consequences of technological change, but neither will technology automatically create better opportunities.

Industrialization, information technology and employment in Malaysia

As Malaysia enters into a new phase of industrial development under the Sixth Malaysia Plan ( 1991-1995), information technology has been singled out as one of the five key technologies which will launch Malaysia as a developed country and support the industrial culture needed to sustain industrialization.¹ This new approach to industrialization will:

emphasise the development of export-oriented' high value-added, high technology industries . . . the objective of the industrial policy is to move towards more capital-intensive and technologically sophisticated industries producing better quality and competitive products that are integrated with the markets of developed countries . . . and, in the long run, industrial development will emphasise greater automation or other labour-saving production processes to reduce labour utilisation.

(Government of Malaysia, 1991: pp. 137-139)

Malaysia has been transformed from an economy based on agriculture to one with a substantial industrial base. The share of agriculture in GDP has declined significantly, from 40.5 per cent in 1955 to 18.7 per cent in 1990. Conversely, industry's share rose from 17.5 per cent in 1955 to 27 per cent in 1990. Moreover, the move towards privatization encouraged by the World Bank has made the private sector the main engine of growth. There has also been a shift in the gender and ethnic composition of the labour force.² In line with the New Economic Policy, there has been an increase in the employment of Malays from rural areas in urban employment sectors. At the same time, with the opening up of export processing zones and the present tight labour market, more and more women are joining the labour force.

Education and training

Computers in schools

The shift from an agricultural to an industrial economy, and the stress on IT as a key industry, has led to a shortage of computer professionals. Government policies aimed at rectifying this shortage operate at both secondary and tertiary levels. A computer literacy programme called Computers in Education (CIE) was established in 1986 by the Malaysian Institute of Microelectronic Systems and the Ministry of Education. The idea was to introduce computers into schools. The programme now covers 1,359 secondary schools, including 41.6 per cent of schools in the Federal Territory, but just 4.4 per cent of those in Sabah and 2.6 per cent of those in Sarawak.

Primary school computer clubs have also been encouraged. In 1990 the total membership of these clubs was 34,493, or just 1.4 per cent of students. Female students, the majority of whom were non-bumiputras, comprised almost half of the total membership. The clubs were also concentrated in the Federal Territory. Similar clubs in secondary schools serve about 5 per cent of the total school population. Once again, half of the members are girls. Given the rather limited coverage of these schemes, it is hard to believe that 'by the year 2000, those who have gone through our education system, would be computer literate and would be able to integrate themselves into the newly emerging information society' (statement by the Finance Minister³).

Private computer colleges and schools

In line with the demand for more computer personnel, private institutes have been offering courses and training in this field. A 1992 survey of seven of the principal private schools and colleges, conducted by the authors, showed an increasing number of students enrolling in computer courses or related subjects. Of these seven private institutes, five offered a Diploma in Computer Studies and a Certificate in Computer Packages and Software programmes; one offered courses in Electrical Engineering and Electronics (Diploma and Certificate), while the last one offered classes in selected computer packages. Between 1987 and 1992,957 males and 1,207 females graduated in computer packages and software programmes, and 2,234 males and 1,637 females in computer courses or studies. Only nineteen females completed electronics courses, compared to 476 male graduates. Thus despite the opportunities for women in computer education and training in the private sector, women study software programmes rather than competing for higher qualifications in computer studies and electronics/electrical courses.

Universities and colleges

At the tertiary level there are almost equal numbers of female and male students. However female students have a preference for the non-technical and non-vocational disciplines. At the university level, although more women have been enrolling in science and technological courses, female students still dominated the arts and applied arts (Government of Malaysia, 1991:pp.420-421). Women constituted 65 per cent of the students in arts, 45 per cent in science, 22 per cent in the vocational and 36 per cent in the technical streams in 1990. Sex-based socialization and stereotyping of women's education and skills training is declining, but it is still a reality today.

Academic programmes offered by tertiary institutions in the area of computing, informatics, information technology and related fields have grown largely because of national policies that have encouraged their development. A number of universities offer degree courses in computer science programmes. The Universiti Utara Malaysia has started a School of Information Technology, and the Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman offers a diploma in computer science. There were 4,215 students in computer related courses in tertiary institutions for the 1990-1991 academic year. Female students comprised 51.4 per cent of total intake, 47.6 per cent at the degree level, 55.5 per cent at the diploma level and 29 per cent at the Certificate level.⁴

Projections for 1990-1995 are that 10,478 professionals and semiprofessionals will graduate at the tertiary level, and another 12,750 semi-professionals from private institutions, but this will still be 3,224 short of the IT personnel required.⁵ According to the MNCC survey (n.d.), there will be shortfalls in the areas of IT management (41 per cent), systems analysts (22 per cent), programming (27 per cent), operations (10 per cent) and specialists (18 per cent).⁶

Trends in new technology employment

The rapid increase in employment associated with the new technologies, between 1975 and 1990, is shown in Table 9.1. The number of systems analysts grew nearly fifteen-fold (from 172 to 2526) during this period while computer programmers increased thirteen-fold (from 335 to 4353), and automatic data processing and machine operators increased ten-fold (from 1038 to 10709).⁷

The trend towards increased employment in computer-related jobs actually masks two divisions. Firstly, jobs become differentiated between 'high-skilled' and 'low-skilled' work, that is between systems analysts, programmers and the like in the professional and technical category and automatic data processing and machine operators on the other. If the other clerical workers, a growing percentage of whom are using computers, are included, the direct and indirect low-skilled groups in 1990 were about 40 times the size of the high-skilled category (Table 9.1). Hence the majority of computer-related jobs are still in the direct and indirect low-skilled category.

Another trend is polarization in terms of gender. Women's share in the direct high-skilled jobs increased from 42 per cent in 1985 to 45 per cent in 1990, reflecting healthy inroads made by women in this professional category. On the other hand their share of the low-skilled data processing operators declined - from 91 per cent in 1975 to 75 per cent in 1985 and 62 per cent in 1990. Yet it is clear that low-skilled new technology employment is predominantly female and will continue to remain so.

TELMAL: Gender and office employment

TELMAL,⁸ is a telecommunications agency established in 1948 under the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications with the dual functions of telecommunications operations and the supervision of such operations. As part of the structural transformation of the economy, TELMAL was corporatized in January 1987 and became a Public Listed Company in October 1990, with 20 per cent of its shares open to the public.

Table 9.1 Employment by selected occupation and sex, peninsular Malaysia, 1975 and 1990

Source: Department of Statistics, Labour Force Survey (unpublished data)

The basic services provided by TELMAL, are telephone and telex services, but it also provides radio and data communication services, with plans for more advanced services in line with the IT strategy of the government. In 1991, TELMAL announced that it planned to spend more than RM 5 million (approximately US$ 2 million) on personal computers, printers and application software 'in a move to increase the productivity of the staff . In its 1991 Annual Report, TELMAL proudly pointed out that the company has become the largest user of IT in the country.

TELMAL's turnover is expected to reach RM 6 billion by 1995, compared to RM 3 billion in 1991. Profits have also dramatically increased since TELMAL was privatized. In its first year of incorporation TELMAL chalked up a pre-tax profit of RM 181 million. This jumped to RM 550 million in 1990 and soared to RM 1,079 billion in 1991. TELMAL workers have been urged to work harder to achieve profits of more than RM 2 billion in the next two or three years.⁹

This stupendous growth is in line with the nation's desire to be an information society and the regional communications centre. It is estimated that the telecommunications industry in Malaysia will grow by 15 per cent per year, outstripping the estimated growth rate of telecommunications in the Asian region of 7.5 per cent for the period 1990-1995. Global telecommunications are expected to grow by only 5 per cent per year over the same period.¹⁰

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