Does "cyberspace" transform women's identities and relations? Is it eroding social and geographic boundaries?

To answer these questions, we must pay attention to how online use emerges in everyday life. And to understand everyday online use, we must consider the relations among paid labor, free time and online use. Paid labor and free time seem like vinegar and oil-the two don't mix. Thus, the literature on women, paid labor and computers tends to focus on the working conditions of women employed to use or make computers (e.g., Hossfeld 1990; Markussen 1995; Mitter 1995; Odedra-Straub 1995; Webster 1996; Zuboff 1988.) A separate literature examines gendered patterns of online communication, the "gender gap" in online use, and women's online play, organizing and care-giving-activities that occur during our free time (e.g., Herring, Johnson and DiBenedetto 1995; McRae 1997; Shade 1993; Turkle 1995; Villanueva 1998.) Although some researchers explore border-crossing between virtual worlds and "real life," relatively little attention has been focused on how paid labor influences these excursions. In particular, there is little research on how differences in paid labor may shape differences among women in personal online use.