Several of the included New Woman utopian texts depict use of futuristic machines or other technologies. The Reproduction and Medicine chapter addresses how medical technologies are used in many of the texts (particularly in The Age of Science, Mercia, and New Amazonia), so I will utilize this supplement more to address more general technological progression and speculative machines which appear in the included texts.

Texts which focus particularly heavily on futuristic technologies include Mercia, Sultana’s Dream, and Man’s Rights. In Mercia, speculative technology appears in many forms, including, again, advanced reproductive choices. Here, however, I would like to focus more on the use of technological weapons in the novel. As discussed in the Violence chapter, Mercia uses a (rather inexplicable) electric weapon to defend herself; earlier in the novel, these weapons are also used as a part of a competitive game. They are meant to temporarily stun, not kill. Similarly, technology helps clear Mercia’s name; her ultimate husband is able to help find her not guilty in court through a machine (which is again, rather vague--the readers is left unbeknownst as to how it really works) that resembles modern video technology. Thus, technology in Mercia is perhaps an unequivocal positive, helping to protect Mercia and thus further rights and safety for women.

Technology operates somewhat similarly in Sultana’s Dream, where the Queen uses the futuristic weather machine--conceived of and built by female scholars--in order to win the war and help implement matriarchy in Ladyland. Again, as in Mercia, a new machine helps to further women’s progress. The attitude towards machinery is similarly positive in Cridge’s Man’s Rights. Recall that men are oppressed and treated how women are in the narrator’s dream. They are, however, happy and able to have a more satisfying life after the manage to create a type of machine that can do all sorts of cooking and cleaning tasks very quickly. Like those of Hossain and Mears, Cridge’s text seems to be suggesting the possibility of technology in furthering women’s liberation.

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be many critical or contextual texts which address New Women’s particular attitudes towards technology. Technology perhaps appears most often in the utopian genre, and, as I addressed in the introduction, the utopian genre is often deemphasized in discussion about New Woman fiction in general. A positive view of technology in more generally feminist utopian fiction is not unheard of, however. For example, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Moving the Mountain features a heroine who, in the words of Carol A. Kolmerten, “finds a utopia (in the city) where technology has freed women from lives of dependence and ceaseless work” (123). These positive views of technology seem more related to general feminist advocacy than a particular New Woman ethic.

It is notable, however, what a positive approach New Women and more generally feminist utopian authors took regarding technology and machines. Many male contemporary writers took a more pessimistic view regarding technology, expressing fears about how large-scale or overly intelligent it may become in the future. Women writers (“New” and otherwise) do not seem to share these concerns. As women were largely excluded from important, thinker roles in the Industrial Revolution, perhaps technology was not as much of a concern for them and the positive portrayals may be a way of subtly suggesting more female involvement in technological innovation.