Wired mothers do it for themselves

Katherine spends most of her time in front of her computer

By BBC News Online's Alfred Hermida

Katharine Yip is a busy well-educated mother, jostling with the demands of two young daughters and a full-time job as a translator.

Living in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, she has found that new technology has opened up new horizons for her.

"In our society, women may have difficulty to move around because they don't have a car or they have to stay home to take care of a bedridden family member," Katharine told BBC News Online.

"We may be home most of the time, but the physical boundary is no longer there once we go online," she said. "That is why a group of mothers could publish a book in four languages by just communicating online."

The book, Working@home, was published last year as a guidebook for working mothers, offering advice of how to run a business from the home.

From paper to e-mail

"When I began working from home a decade ago, my tools were paper, pens, correction liquid and a long ruler," says Katherine, who provides translation, copywriting and interpretation services to local and overseas clients.

Katherine can spend time with her daughters

Now, she spends most of her time in front of her computer, working on her assignments and networking via the internet.

"With e-mail, I could deliver the finished assignment to my client in no time, whenever and wherever they are, she says.

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"This narrows the gap between a home office and a conventional office. The quality of work becomes the only thing that counts."

Mothers for mothers

Her experience is echoed by one of the other authors of the book, Chong Sheau Ching.

I can't live without technology now. It gives women freedom. We may stay at home to take care of family but our brains still function as well

Chong Sheau Ching

A Malaysian journalist with a six-year-old daughter, she founded the Mothers for Mothers network for women like her to share experiences and advice online on how to have a career and a family.

"I can't live without technology now," she said. "It gives women freedom. We may stay at home to take care of family but our brains still function as well.

"Gone are the days when women who stay home are called housewives and are looked down on because society thought we had little to contribute to society," she says.

"Housewives like me are at home killing the Nimda virus, cursing the Code Red II virus for attacking our websites, crawling on the floor fixing the computer wires and behaving as cyber-professionals while our kids are doing homework behind us or the curry chicken is being slow cooked over the stove."

Costly barriers

But the high cost of computers and an internet connection in countries like Malaysia means the dream of working from home is often beyond the reach of many women.

"Besides, original software is very expensive. The Windows operating system and the small office package I bought this year cost more than the computer itself," says Sheau Ching.

Make technology work for you to simplify and streamline things. Never shirk from technology with the view it's only for the boys and the younger generation

Audrey Fong

"Until the prices of all software and hardware come down, using information technology to work from home will remain a dream for many."

One of those who can afford it, like Audrey Fong, another of the authors of Working@home, works from home for an internet real estate portal.

Living in Malaysia with her husband and two young children, she has found that technology has freed up precious time to spend at home with the family. But she warns that other mothers against trying to do too much.

"The supermum myth is exactly that, a myth," she says.

"Make technology work for you to simplify and streamline things. Never shirk from technology with the view it's only for the boys and the younger generation," she says.

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