Digital Surveillance and Employee Autonomy in the Context of Gendered Inequalities: A Critical Theory Perspective
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Keywords:
Gendered Inequalities, Critical Theory, Digital Surveillance, Employee Autonomy, Gender Perspective, Algorithmic ManagementAbstract
This study is a qualitative study examining the effects of digital surveillance technologies on
employee autonomy within a gender perspective and critical theory. In today's rapidly expanding
digitalization era, artificial intelligence-based recruitment systems, algorithmic management, and remote
working software are not only transforming business processes but also reproducing gender-based
inequalities. The literature indicates that women are rated lower in algorithmic recruitment systems, that
they experience a "double burden" in the home-work balance while working from home during the
pandemic, and that women employees in the gig economy face both algorithmic pressure and gender
based risks. Critical theory interprets this process as technology ceasing to be a neutral tool and becoming
an ideological mechanism that reproduces relations of domination. Adorno and Horkheimer's critique of
"instrumental reason" demonstrates that digital surveillance produces surveillance and control rather than
liberating potential, while Habermas's theory of communicative action emphasizes the suppression of
employee voices in the workplace and the weakening of democratic functioning. Ultimately, the study
demonstrates that ignoring the gender dimension of digital surveillance will lead to an incomplete
assessment. Therefore, surveillance should also be considered a gendered form of domination and
discussed more in depth. Thus, it seems that understanding surveillance as a gendered form of domination
will make a significant contribution to the literature and critical discussions.
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