Overlapping care and control: Insights from Romanian smart speaker users

Introduction

Smart speakers have rapidly become a staple in households worldwide, significantly impacting domestic life and gender dynamics. Since 2018, their adoption has surged, even outpacing smartphones. In the U.S., the number of smart speakers grew from 120 million in 2018 to 157 million in 2023 (Kumar, 2023), while in Europe, ownership reached 33 million by 2022. The global usage of voice assistants has consistently increased since 2022, with 31.8% of U.S. users engaging weekly, followed by the United Kingdom at 27.1%, Germany at 26%, France at 18.7%, The Netherlands at 15.6%, and Romania at 13% (Digital 2025 Global Overview Report; Data Reportal, 2025).

The market for smart speakers is experiencing significant growth, with global usage increasing to 35% in 2022 from 27% in 2020, generating approximately 11 billion USD in revenue (Pangarkar, 2024). Revenue is expected to climb to 35 billion USD by 2027 and potentially reach 100 billion USD by 2032. The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to this expansion, as people spent more time at home and sought connection during isolation periods, leading to a 25% increase in smart speaker adoption in 2020, with the trend continuing upward (Soper, 2020).

This trend indicates that smart speaker usage is becoming an integral part of life globally. However, in Romania, this is particularly intriguing because these devices are not directly sold there, and the Romanian language is not supported. Romanian users often receive smart speakers as gifts from friends and family living abroad, acquire them while traveling outside the country, or purchase them online from e-commerce resellers in the Global North (United Kingdom, Germany, France) or Asia (China), where these devices are sold directly. Despite these limitations, interest in smart speakers in Romania has been high since 2018. According to a technology magazine (Drăgan, 2019), Romania ranked 17th in a Google search ranking for smart speakers and assistants (Cristea, 2010).

This unique context, similar to other countries in the Global South where smart speakers and devices are not readily available, has prompted an investigation into the usage and implications of these devices. I aim to explore the subtle and often unconscious meanings associated with smart speaker usage in Romanian households and address the following research questions: In what ways are smart speakers transforming the dynamics of domestic spaces?, How do smart speakers influence interpersonal relationships among household members?.

In this article, I explore how smart speakers are reshaping domestic life, particularly in household management, family dynamics, and the gendered division of domestic roles. While several authors have examined the impact of smart speakers on domestic life (Sadowski et al., 2021; Strengers and Kennedy, 2021), I argue that more attention is needed as smart devices are increasingly adopted and rapidly penetrating domestic spaces.

Additionally, as family life evolves under the influence of social, political, and economic factors, significant changes are occurring in the institution of marriage and family. These changes include a global decline in marriage rates (Herre et al., 2024; UN, Eurostat, OECD) and the emergence of the “wife drought” (Strengers and Kennedy, 2021: 1) or “decoupled” phenomenon. These trends are characterized by a decline in both marriage and parenthood rates, with marriage becoming less common, individuals marrying later in life, or couples choosing cohabitation and parenthood without formalizing their union through marriage.

Examining current trends in marriage and parenthood, alongside the impact of smart technologies in domestic spaces, is crucial. These trends reflect significant societal shifts, particularly in the traditional roles of women, who have historically shouldered the bulk of household management tasks such as cleaning, cooking, childcare, and eldercare. As the conventional role of the wife as the household manager gradually diminishes (Crabb, 2014), we observe the rise of smart speakers and other intelligent devices capable of performing tasks once predominantly managed by women, as well as the emergence of new tasks within the domestic space, such as testing, optimizing, management.

In this context, I use the concept of “Big Mother” (Sadowski et al., 2021), which evolved from the “smart wife” concept (Strengers and Kennedy, 2021), to explain how smart speakers, under the guise of caregiving, are impacting family life. Additionally, the concept of “digital housekeeping” highlights how smart speakers are introducing a novel form of labor for all family members interacting with these devices, exacerbating gender inequality and creating friction among household members.

It is important to mention that discussions about the impact of technologies in relation to women, domestic space are not new especially in the science and technology or media studies. Authors like Haraway and Jarrett introduced concepts like the “cyborg woman” (Haraway, 2006) and “digital housewife” (Jarrett, 2016) through which they challenged traditional boundaries and categories of gender, identity, humanity, and labor. Although these devices cannot fully substitute the multifaceted role of women in the household, they possess the ability to evolve beyond mere technological tools. Smart speakers have the potential to become more than just functional assistants; they can be perceived as friends, buddies, companions, or servants, reshaping the dynamics of domestic life (Strengers and Kennedy, 2021: 16).

This fading role, once deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness and persisting for decades, portrayed the wife not just as a partner but as a social construct and a commodity, often seen as the property of her husband (Strengers and Kennedy, 2021: 14). The main reason behind this worldwide situation is caused by women’s overload and burden with responsibilities and men’s resistance in taking over more responsibilities in marriage or partnerships (Crabb, 2014). While there are countries where men are increasingly participating in domestic duties, contributing to a more equitable distribution of gender roles, the general trend sees women pursuing fulfillment beyond the confines of traditional roles (Strengers and Kennedy, 2021: 17). This shift reflects a broader societal transformation as women explore opportunities for personal and professional development outside the household.

In Romania, traditional gender roles in partnerships and marriages are slowly changing. Historically, women have had a strong workforce presence, especially during the communist era when both genders were expected to work (Istrate and Banica, 2013). Communism promoted the myth of gender equality in work and education, but in reality, women often worked fewer hours in less demanding jobs and were paid less than men (Kligman, 2000). The dual role of women as professionals and homemakers was accepted as long as it didn’t interfere with household duties (Rotariu, 2012; Zamfir, 2010).

The fall of communism led to job losses for both men and women, affecting their social status. Post-1990s, due to migration and job market changes, women in urban areas became more independent, seeking better jobs and wages. This shift increased female employment rates, even in traditionally conservative regions (Istrate and Banica, 2013). Romania’s job market stabilized after joining the European Union, with employment rising from 2002 to 2016 and gender employment gaps slowly decreasing (Marcu and Tanase, 2018). In the middle class, women often have higher education, salaries, and less traditional views, adopting a “co-independent lifestyle” where both partners share roles and enjoy freedom (Butean, 2015).

In this context, smart speakers as a technological surrogate for traditional women’s roles in household management, becomes particularly relevant in the Romanian context. By examining the nuances of gender roles within Romanian domestic and employment spheres, I try to gain a clear understanding of the motivations driving the adoption and sustained use of smart speakers and other smart devices in the households under study. While men are typically the primary purchasers of smart speakers (Waddell, 2018), their motivations extend beyond a mere interest in the latest technological advancements; often unacknowledged reasons related to household management may influence these purchasing decisions (Strengers and Kennedy, 2021). These reasons are not always explicitly stated, hinting at the subtle perpetuation of traditional gender roles through modern technology. In my own research, the disparity in ownership and usage of smart speakers mirrored this trend within Romania and the utilization of smart speakers within Romanian households revealed distinct gender-based patterns not only in ownership but also in the manner of use.

Methodology

My research investigates the adoption and use of smart speakers in Romania, a particular market where these devices are neither sold directly nor offer native language support for Romanian. This article seeks to understand how smart speakers adoption and usage is impacting the domestic life of the Romanian users. I consider this question important, especially that smart speakers analysis is yet in a nascent phase and the subtlety of smart speakers usage is yet under scrutiny. Undertaking this study was an adventurous endeavor for multiple reasons, one was the nature of the smart speakers market in Romania, second the investigation of the domestic space which has its share of difficulty, and third the constraints of the pandemic. This research required not only an understanding of the technologies themselves but also an appreciation for the nuanced ways in which they are woven into the fabric of daily living. I started my research at the end of 2019 and soon after the COVID-19 pandemic started causing me to reconsider how I did my fieldwork. The social distancing imposed globally “pushed us back into the armchair - both in a physical and metaphorical sense - and imposed the adoption of new methods to conduct research from our own homes” (Howlett, 2021: 12).

I embraced digital platforms, such as Facebook to recruit respondents, Messenger, WhatsApp and Gmail to communicate with them, and Google Meets to conduct interviews. All these digital methods enabled me to continue my work in real-time with audio, visual, and textual material without physically leaving my home (Lobe et al., 2020). For this article, I conducted interviews with 14 respondents – that I sampled using word-of-mouth and snowball technique; almost half of my respondents came after I posted a call-to-research announcement on my Facebook page in the summer of 2020, a tactic that I adopted because of the pandemic it was difficult to meet people and spread the word. The interviews have been conducted in two rounds, one in 2020 and a second one in 2021. Conducting two rounds of interviews in two different years offered me the possibility to observe in time their evolution in regard to smart speakers usage, acquisition, integration. Since I wasn’t able to do observation in their households nor was I able to conduct face-to-face interviews, all the discussions happened online via Google Meets.

During the Google Meet interviews for my research, all respondents consented to audio recording, yet exhibited a notable reluctance when asked to provide a visual tour of their homes, share photographs, or disclose household layouts. This hesitance underscores a desire to maintain privacy, especially given that I was an outsider to them. To further safeguard their personal spaces during the interviews, two respondents chose not to activate their cameras, one used a virtual background provided by Google Meet, two opted to blur their backgrounds, while the others did not take any measures to alter the view of their interiors. This ethnographic refusal ¹ (Benjamin, 2016; Simpson, 2007; apud Semel, 2019) to reveal their living spaces mirrors their attitudes towards privacy and data surveillance more broadly. The two respondents, who kept their cameras off were particularly cautious, were limiting their use of smart speakers to basic functions and expressing resistance to full home automation or over-reliance on these devices. One even had set their Google Home to automatically delete data after a month. The other participants, while aware of potential privacy risks associated with smart speakers, did not exhibit the same level of protective behavior as the aforementioned two.

My respondents were all middle-class, ages between 30 and 42, living in Romania, in Bucharest and Brașov; only one respondent is currently living in Berlin, Germany. Out of 14, three respondents were women and 11 men. Three of them have one child between one and two years old, while one of them has two children between five and seven years old; they live with their families and sometimes they are visited by family members, such as parents and parents-in-law. From the other six, four live with their partners, while the other four are living alone. I tried to cover more variability in terms of occupation, so my respondents have the following professions: painter, automation engineer, graphic designers, website developer, copywriter, public relation specialists, policy and privacy expert, entrepreneur, marketing managers; product managers.

Moreover, the demographic profile of my research participants reveals a high level of educational attainment, with all respondents having completed higher education. Notably, three of them have pursued their studies at international universities in North America and Western Europe. This detail is significant as it may reflect their exposure to diverse technological environments and potentially influence their receptiveness to and engagement with smart speaker technologies. Eleven of them were owning the house in which they were living, while only 3 were long-time renters. The fact that they work in fields connected with the information and communication technologies (ITC) and that they are long-time users of digital devices makes them digital literates. Moreover, they all have had experience with voice-assistants on smartphones, some still using them when they were not at home; they owned at least one smart speaker and one smart device that could be integrated with the smart speaker.

What are smart speakers?

Voice-controlled technologies, in which smart speakers are included, are not new; historically they trace back to the voice assistants developed by IBM (1961) and Microsoft (1990) and to the smart homes projects created at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1990), Georgia Institute of Technology (1997), and Interactive Institute Project (1999). The initial voice assistants had no conversational abilities and they just offered support to users in certain environments – IBM Shoebox could understand 16 words ² and was able to perform mathematical functions and perform speech recognition, while Clippy from Microsoft had a primitive artificial intelligence and was able to offer editing and reference support for those writing in Microsoft Word. The era of the new voice assistants started with Siri (2010), continued with Microsoft Cortana (2014) and Google Assistant (2016) and culminated with Alexa Echo (2014) and Google Home (2016).

Compared to the first voice recognition devices, current voice assistants have a computational system connected to the Internet (Hoy, 2018: 3), while also being equipped with sophisticated voice recognition systems and artificial intelligence. Known by several names – intelligent voice-controlled assistants (Jiang et al., 2015), voice-controlled personal assistants (Easwara Moorthy & Vu, 2014), smart speakers (Hur et al., 2015) and conversational agents (Lee and Choi, 2017), voice assistants can be of two types, smart speakers that work via Bluetooth – Amazon Echo, Google Home – or software that works on computers or smartphones – Cortana from Microsoft, Siri from Apple. The new developments of voice technologies enable them to respond verbally quickly, thus eliminating any manual operation. For example, users can turn on the smart speakers only by saying their name – “Alexa,” “Hey, Google,” while artificial intelligence enables them to answer questions, like “What day is today?,” “What is the meaning of life,” “What team won the football game?,” to offer expanded answers and to conduct conversations. In my research, I primarily refer to these devices as “smart speakers,” a term that aligns with the nomenclature used by leading companies like Google and Amazon in their marketing efforts, and is also how my respondents commonly refer to them.

As mentioned above, the new generation of voice technologies do not mark only the technological development of this specific technology – “the third wave of technology” as named by Weiser – but they also highlight the return to the universe of apartments and smart homes (Bell and Dourish, 2011). While the initial wave of smart home projects may have stalled, the concept did not vanish. Instead, it persisted within communities of smart home enthusiasts, such as IOC (Human-Computer Interaction), CU (Ubiquitous Computation) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) communities, quietly evolving until it caught the attention of major tech corporations. It was the intervention of industry giants like Google and Amazon that brought smart home technologies into the limelight once again.

As stated by Amazon, Alexa Echo started to be developed inside Lab16 offices in Silicon Valley, California and Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2010 and was created with the initial purpose to expand the company’s portfolio beyond Kindle e-reader. The first-generation Echo was limited to Amazon Prime members or was possible only through invitation (a common marketing tactic), but it became available across the United States in 2015. Alexa Echo was designed initially as a simple speaker, but as the artificial intelligence, Alexa, evolved, the device became a controlling center for smart home appliances. The transition to a hub was influenced by the affiliation of companies that wanted to collaborate with Amazon and integrate their services to Alexa Echo.

Amazon’s main competitor in terms of smart speakers, Google, framed the creation of Google Home in direct response to Alexa Echo. Google Home, officially launched in 2016, was running Google Assistant as the basis for the smart speaker. Similar to Alexa Echo, Google Home was launched initially in the USA, but, faster than its competitor, launched the device in other countries – UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan (2017), Denmark, South Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden (2018). As Google developed more products for the smart home and for the creation of a smart ecosystem within their brand they changed the name of the smart speakers from Google to Google Nest.

Exploring the history of voice technologies is crucial to understanding smart speakers. This narrative highlights remarkable technological evolution and cultural integration. From early personal computing to smartphones, advancements in hardware and software have led to today’s seamless natural language interactions. Nowadays voice assistants switch fast from a novelty to necessity, pushing forward the adoption of smart devices and the expansion of smart homes.

The subtle symbolism of smart speakers usage

Discussions with respondents revealed that men in Romania are more engaged than women in acquiring, testing, integrating, and using smart speakers. However, this active engagement with digital technologies among men aligns with the global trend of male dominance in the tech industry (Strengers and Kennedy, 2021) and which has been famously critiqued in the context of Silicon Valley’s “Brotopia” (Chang, 2018). It is considered that this gender imbalance is of concern as it can negatively impact the design of devices, potentially marginalizing women’s needs and preferences (Bergen, 2016; Golding and Van Deventer, 2016; Wachter-Boettcher, 2017).

Throughout my research, the gendered nature of smart speakers was not immediately apparent, with the notable exception of a preference for a female voice and an American-English accent. The historical use of female voices in technology, dated back to the Chabot ELIZA created by Joseph Weizenbaum in 1966, reinforced this trend. In the context of the domestic sphere, where women have traditionally played a central role, the female voice in smart speakers may seem more natural, especially for tasks traditionally associated with homemaking, such as grocery shopping, cleaning, and overall household management (Strengers and Kennedy, 2021: 28).

Yet, subtle indications of gendering emerged when some referred to the device using feminine pronouns or by name, such as “her,” “she,” “Alexa,” or “Google.” This personification suggested an underlying gendered perspective. Both men and women respondents expressed a preference for the voice’s tonality, pitch, and accent, a choice they attributed to familiarity, as it aligned with the voices used in other applications like Siri, Google Assistant, Google Maps, and Waze. The use of female voices in technology is often intended to evoke a sense of warmth, friendliness, and pleasantness, which may explain this widespread preference (Strengers and Kennedy, 2021).

While there are shared patterns in how individuals engage with smart devices, it’s important to recognize that usage was highly individualized. Each user brought their own unique motivations to both the initial purchase, set-up and the ongoing utilization of these technologies. This diversity underscored the personalized nature of technology adoption and the varied factors that influenced how smart devices were integrated into their daily life. Yet, regardless of the individual reasons, there was a prevalent dynamic at play: the relationship between effective household management and the “Big Mother” system (Sadowski et al., 2021).

Smart speakers – A discussion about care and control

A. treated his house with utmost consideration, he spent a lot of time and energy into making his apartment modern, efficient, and comfortable for himself and his wife. He saw smart speakers as the best solution to manage the household and to relieve himself of small, repetitive, and sometimes disruptive tasks. He claims that “I’m a person obsessed with automations for everyday, repetitive, not necessarily annoying . . . things that you don’t even realize . . . it’s certainly not a problem to put a key in the lock, but it’s definitely very cool to go up the stairs and have the door open by itself . . . it’s comfort.” This statements shows that A.’s obsession for efficiency is translated into saving time, but also saving energy – electricity and gas – and money for cleaning – the cleaning lady didn’t had to come weekly anymore, this being of the biggest motivators of usage (Kragh-Furbo and Walker, 2018; Strengers and Kennedy, 2021).

Another respondent, B. shared a common interest in sustainability and the pressing issue of global warming. B., in particular, viewed smart speakers as an ally in his quest to create a more eco-friendly home. He believed that these devices enabled him to manage his household more efficiently, reducing waste and conserving energy. S., too, found value in the convenience offered by smart speakers, especially on her long workdays or while she was away on vacation. Her appreciation for these devices had grown from personal experience; they had remedied the all-too-familiar concern of leaving lights on inadvertently, as she explains “I went on vacation for three days once and when I came back I had the light on in the bathroom . . . having smart speakers integrated with lights you avoid that, you know?.” As someone who lived alone, the ability to remotely control her home’s lighting through smart speakers not only contributed to energy conservation but also provided peace of mind.

These examples highlighted how smart speakers served as tools for both environmental stewardship and practical household management, offering users like B. and S. a sense of control and efficiency that aligned with their values and lifestyles. Smart speakers were helping them to exert more control over their resources. For example, A. orchestrated and optimized with the help of smart speakers the entire household from the Google Hub monitor that he checked regularly even when he was not in the home, when he was at the office. By delegating these tasks to the smart speakers, A. felt that both he and his wife had free time for their activities outside work and they were less bothered by domestic tasks.

Moreover, the actions practiced by my respondents embody an enactment of care, expressed through management, maintenance, and optimization, which reflect a concern for the household and its members (Navaro-Yashin, 2012; Stewart, 2007; Thrift, 2005). Through these actions, users support social relations (Rancière, 2006), demonstrate care (Alexander, 2012), and connect their personal biographies to both public and private materiality. In this context, maintenance, management, and optimization can be seen as everyday micro-powers that contribute to the creation of technological narratives.

In the context of smart speakers, technological narratives often emphasize efficiency, comfort, and convenience in the domestic space, reshaping household and family life. However, these narratives come with the subtle cost of corporate access to personal data, raising privacy concerns. This trade-off between care and control introduces the concept of “Big Mother,” where corporate influence over domestic life blurs the lines between private and public spheres. Users employ smart speakers to enhance comfort and convenience, believing they are caring for themselves and their families. However, this also involves ceding some autonomy over household management to these devices and exposing themselves to corporate data collection. In this context, the question of who is taking care of whom becomes unclear.

As smart speakers become more entrenched in domestic spaces, the home transforms into “a form of digital enclosure over our living spaces,” encroaching upon its sovereignty (Sadowski et al., 2021). This supports the emergence and expansion of “Big Mother,” which is continually fed with users’ personal data while ostensibly taking care of them. Beyond feeding corporations with data to expand their services and portfolios, users actively contribute to the domestication of smart speakers. Unlike traditional servants who received direct compensation for their services, these modern devices are “paid” in a more covert currency – user data.

Smart speakers, beyond tools of management

Smart speakers are not only revolutionizing the domestic space by turning homes into “data factories” (McGuirk, 2015), but they are also introducing new dimensions of domestic labor (Kennedy et al., 2015; Strengers and Nicholls, 2018). While users benefit from the automation of household tasks, the effort required to plan, install, and maintain smart speakers and devices constitutes a new form of work, which is named “digital housekeeping” (Tolmie et al., 2007). Romanian owners of smart speakers, regardless of gender, reported investing time in learning to use these devices, experimenting with settings, and even tweaking them to enhance functionality, especially when full features are not available.

This phenomenon mirrors the introduction of appliances like vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and irons, which, while reducing physical labor, introduced additional responsibilities and heightened domestic standards under the guise of liberating women to manifest care in their social relations – such as with children, the elderly, and partners. In reality, these appliances, including modern smart speakers and devices, add layers of complexity due to the initial learning curve and extend the types of labor to three categories: manual, cognitive, and digital (Kennedy et al., 2015: 53). Each represents an investment users must make to integrate these technologies into their lives. Examples include devoting time to crafting workarounds for smart speaker use, evaluating the voice assistant’s listening and conversational capabilities, exploring compatible streaming platforms, identifying and integrating additional smart devices, and organizing cables.

Furthermore, the tasks of managing and optimizing device functionality, along with the ongoing “digital housekeeping” (Tolmie et al., 2007), add additional layers to the labor involved in maintaining a smart home ecosystem. However, none of my respondents complained about the labor that they are putting into managing smart speakers, for them it is more an intervention like hacking, “a way of fooling with the device” or “a way of solving/fixing issues,” through which they could exercise their cleverness and playfulness. In this sense, Romanian users of smart speakers are operating in a framework of “solutionism” (Strengers & Kennedy, 2021), a term that is picked from the technology world to explain the contemporary world obsession with finding solutions for all the problems (Morozov, 2014).

C.’s ingenuity is showcased through his development of custom language commands tailored for his mother-in-law, enabling her to confidently use the smart speakers when she was alone at home: “For my mother-in-law, who couldn’t pronounce correctly in English I made some routines for her to start the smart speaker . . . she couldn’t pronounce ‘Lights on’ and she said ‘Lights Swan’ and I made this routine to turn on the lights when she said ‘Lights swan’.” Additionally, he had crafted a routine that automated the ambiance in his daughter’s room, with lights and music turning on and off at scheduled times. These personalized modifications not only enhanced the functionality of the devices but also reflected the thoughtful labor invested in adapting technology to meet the diverse needs of family members.

A similar example is that of M., whose use of the smart speaker further exemplified the practical benefits of this cognitive labor. He took advantage of the voice-activated shopping list feature while cooking, a multitasking convenience that allowed him to remain immersed in the culinary experience without disruption, “you notice while cooking that ingredients in the pantry will finish . . . but you are with your hands in other things, you’re dirty and it’s hard with the phone . . . so you ask the smart speaker to put it on the list.” This functionality exemplified the seamless integration of smart technology into daily life, providing M. with a hands-free solution that complemented his enjoyment of cooking.

These instances illustrate how predominantly male users ensure that smart speakers function effectively to maintain comfort and convenience in their domestic spaces. By maintaining and optimizing these devices, users preserve the established equilibrium of their spaces and retain control over their daily routines. Proper functioning allows smart speakers to act as household managers, orchestrating the domestic environment with factory-like precision to ensure smooth operation and adherence to schedules (Sadowski et al., 2021: 8).

However, care is never devoid of power, with both users and smart speakers manifesting forms of power – the users over the smart speaker, the household, and other household members, and the smart speakers over the users, with corporate involvement (Vaughn, 2016). This aspect of care reinforces the persona of “Big Mother” as a nurturing figure, always ready to respond to commands and perceived as trustworthy. In reality, this figure perpetuates a cycle where users willingly offer personal data in exchange for having their needs smoothly met, often downplaying potential privacy concerns (Strengers et al., 2019).

Adding to the examples above, L. was deeply engaged in home automation and as a programmer specializing in automation, he had the skills to develop his own home systems. His initial venture into domestic smart device implementation was driven by concerns for his family’s security, living in a densely populated neighborhood of Bucharest where privacy was compromised by the proximity of buildings. Motivated by a desire to meet his family’s needs and streamline their daily life, L. implemented a series of smart automations within his home.

He ingeniously configured the front door to unlock automatically, providing convenience for those arriving with their hands full of groceries. Lights throughout the home were set to turn on or off based on occupancy, conserving energy while providing necessary illumination. In the basement, a system monitored humidity levels and activated controls to maintain an optimal environment. Additionally, motion sensors were strategically placed to detect nighttime activity, allowing family members to navigate the home after dark without disturbing others. Each of these automations reflected L.’s thoughtful application of technology to enhance both the safety and comfort of his household.

L.’s home automation story highlights once again the complex interplay between care and technology, as well as a vivid example of digital housekeeping. In his pursuit of well-being and efficiency, L. introduced a new kind of labor, particularly for his wife, who had to learn to navigate the custom-made devices without formal instructions. Adapting to L.’s technological enhancements, designed to streamline household operations, inadvertently resulted in additional work for the family and sparked tensions as they adjusted to his vision of an automated home. Through digital housekeeping, where all household members contribute, users add extra labor while supporting the “Big Mother” system. This contributes to increased data exchange and enables smart speakers to act as data custodians, capturing and conveying information to external entities (Sadowski, 2021).

The influence of smart speakers on gendered roles in the domestic space

Beyond discussions of care, control, and optimization, it’s crucial to focus on household members and their relationships. As smart speakers integrate into daily routines, they subtly impact family structures by deepening the overlap between traditionally gendered domains – home as the woman’s and technology as the man’s (Berg, 1991). Earlier studies on digital technologies in domestic spaces often focused on men’s values and practices under the guise of gender neutrality, obscuring status differences between men and women (Wajcman, 1991). A detailed examination of usage practices in households with both genders can reveal significant insights into these disparities. Despite being portrayed as gender-neutral, smart homes often overlook underlying gender dynamics, perpetuating “gender scripts” (Wajcman, 2004) that maintain this divide.

In my discussions with male respondents cohabiting with their wives or partners, the conversations centered on their personal interests in acquiring smart speakers and integrating smart home technology. They described themselves as the primary users and enthusiasts, detailing their usage habits and their efforts to involve other household members. Women were often depicted as secondary users who required instruction from their male counterparts to operate smart speakers. Some expressed reluctance or a lack of interest in using the technology, while in other cases, they were entirely disengaged, leaving the responsibility for operating and managing the devices to the men. As exposed above, men-oriented discourse about smart speakers and smart homes is not surprising, revealing a subtle, yet powerful dynamic between genders.

When discussing smart speakers and devices, M. initially pointed out that his purchase of a smart vacuum cleaner was to satisfy his wife’s wish. Yet, it became apparent that subsequent acquisitions of smart technology – geared towards his personal interests, work, or passion for sports – were primarily for his own benefit. M.’s approach to these purchases suggests a decision-making process where he holds the reins, as he states “I’m the person who does more research, i.e. my wife always asks me to present her 1–2 options that I think are the best, then we decide together and choose, but basically I do the research.” Throughout our conversation, there was no indication of regret for assuming this role.

On the contrary, M. seemed to take pride in leveraging his technical expertise for the benefit of his family, exuding a sense of satisfaction and control. L.’s narrative echoed this sentiment. As an automation engineer, he applied his professional skills to create bespoke smart devices tailored to his home’s needs. Like M., L. displayed a similar confidence and sense of entitlement, underpinned by his specialized knowledge which set him apart from other less technically-inclined family members. Both men’s experiences reflect a broader pattern where technical prowess confers a degree of authority and influence within the domestic sphere. The patterns exhibited by M. and L. are not isolated instances but are reflective of a persistent gender divide in digitalization, as documented by various studies.

Research consistently shows that women, especially in rural areas, face barriers to digital access and connectivity, compounded by a lack of initiatives to foster their digital skills and confidence, and a scarcity of content created for and by women (Furszyfer Del Rio et al., 2021). The technology industry perpetuates this divide with a male-dominated culture, envisioning the ideal consumer as male (Gram-Hanssen and Darby, 2018; Strengers and Nicholls, 2018). Smart speakers, often based on men’s voices, are 70% more likely to respond to men than women (Perez, 2019). This trend mirrors the history of ICT domestication, where devices like home computers became a means for men to express masculinity, while women associated them with professional work (Bakardjieva, 2005; Haddon, 2006). This historical context highlights the persistent gender dynamics shaping technology’s integration into domestic life.

Within such an environment, it is hardly surprising that women are marginalized or overlooked, reinforcing a cycle of exclusion in the realm of digital technology. Apart from the technological determinism manifested at the production and marketing levels, there is another aspect in the case of smart speakers that supports the gendered division and that is the female voice of these devices. One of my respondents, C. mentioned that he tried to set-up and utilize a male voice for smart speakers, but he found it odd, so he switched back to a female voice: “I played with voice types, but I don’t like them, so I stayed with the standard one.”

Existing studies are arguing that the female voice and its prevalence in the digital technologies world is sending a signal that women are obliging, docile and keen-to-please commands; perpetuating negative gender stereotypes (Strengers and Kennedy, 2021). In an UNESCO report it has been mentioned that the tone of commands employed by smart speakers is reinforcing gender biases and revealing once again how gender biases are prevalent in the technology industry itself, get coded into its products, and are present in digital skills education West et al. (2019).

Smart technologies serve as more than mere tools for control and convenience; they act as conduits through which gender norms and constructs are perpetuated, reshaped, and sometimes contested, influencing prevailing ideals of masculinity and femininity (van der Velden and Mörtberg, 2012). My research has revealed a recurring portrayal of men as technophiles – enthusiasts who are well-informed about the latest technological advancements and eager to mold their domestic environment according to their interests.

In contrast, women are often depicted as focused on their own activities, seemingly uninvolved in technological pursuits and passively adapting to the technological choices made by men within the household. Conversations with two female respondents who have independently acquired and managed smart devices illustrate the potential for women to exert agency in the realm of smart technology. These examples demonstrate that when given the opportunity to engage with these innovations, women can and do take an active role in shaping their domestic technological landscapes.

L. shared with a mix of amusement and pride how his wife unexpectedly began using the smart speaker to adjust the temperature in their apartment. While he recounted this with humor, suggesting that his wife’s use of the device reflects positively on his own savvy, it inadvertently underscores a subtle reinforcement of male dominance in the realm of technology. Maintaining a light-hearted tone, L. quipped that the smart speaker is the only “woman” who consistently listens to him, more so than his wife. This affirmation, while made with an amused tone, echoes the traditional and problematic stereotype of the ideal woman as compliant and obedient, ready to respond to commands without question.

These examples highlight enduring cultural preconceptions tied to digital technologies and gendered usage patterns (Perez, 2019). Women’s perceived passivity perpetuates a male-dominated environment, influencing gender identities in relation to smart speakers and the smart home ecosystem (Chambers, 2020). Digital housekeeping adds extra work for women while potentially displacing men from traditional domestic responsibilities, exacerbating gender inequality. This uneven task distribution relegates women to a secondary role, with less time to manage smart technologies. Men’s authority over these technologies reinforces their household control and shapes its moral economy (Aagaard, 2023; Chambers, 2020), aligning with male values and interests. Consequently, the domestic sphere is subtly molded by men’s technological preferences and priorities.

Conclusion

The usage of smart speakers in Romania, where there is no direct market for these devices and the Romanian language is not supported, exhibits behaviors similar to those of users in the Global North. Through the concepts of the “smart wife” and “Big Mother,” I highlight a global phenomenon where women’s traits are leveraged by technology companies and preferred by male consumers, who are the primary users of such technologies regardless of the setting. This male preference for smart devices can be attributed to shifts in marriage preferences among women, as well as changes in women’s lifestyle choices, professional experiences, and other factors. These shifts are altering societal norms, particularly in household management, which has traditionally been associated with women.

In this context, smart speakers and other smart devices are emerging in domestic spaces, replacing certain activities traditionally performed by women while simultaneously creating new tasks for both women and men. The gendered nature of smart speakers is not immediately apparent but becomes evident in how users address the device, the settings of the voice, accent, and tones, and the use of these devices as a manifestation of care. The dimension of care is particularly problematic because, under the guise of control, choice, management, and optimization, smart speakers gain a foothold in domestic spaces, blurring the lines between privacy and public life, and complicating relationships within families.

With the introduction of smart speakers, the domestic space transforms into a “controlled environment,” where users cede some autonomy of their homes to corporations. Moreover, smart speakers introduce new forms of domestic labor, including the planning, installation, and maintenance of these devices, which contribute to heightened domestic standards. This new form of labor, termed “digital housekeeping,” is often undertaken by men, relegating women to secondary positions within the household while also adding new tasks to their responsibilities. In this sense, smart speakers are not merely devices meant to support users’ lives; they are dual figures that offer convenience while also imposing new forms of labor and control, while impacting the gender roles within the domestic realm and maintaining the gender gap.