Abstract
This 24-chapter handbook reflects a broad terrain of gender and organization studies, presenting a variety of – often conflicting – approaches to researching and theorizing gender in organizations. Part 1 contains six theoretical contributions, starting with Calás, Smircich and Holvino’s distinction between the ‘gender in organizations’ approach, which they classify as typically comparing women’s experiences or characteristics with those of men within organizations, and their preferred ‘gendering organizations’ approach, which sees gender as a social process and organizations as producing gendered relations. They suggest that the former types of theorizing, often applying psychological perspectives to understand gender roles and stereotyping, may be ineffective in overcoming gender inequality, locating the onus for change on women themselves. Instead they turn the focus onto organizations as ‘gender factories’ (Williams, 2010) or ‘inequality regimes’, consisting of organizational processes that produce racialized and gendered class relations (Acker, 2006).
The other chapters in Part 1 adopt varied approaches: Paludi et al. undertake a discursive review of feminist organizational analysis; Ashcraft and Harris propose a ‘constitutive’ view of discourse, drawing on organizational communication theory; Gherardi employs a symbolist approach to highlight the ambiguity of gendered meanings in organizations; while Höpfl draws on Freud and Irigaray to discuss the ‘phallocratic order’ pervading organizations. Offering a more sociological understanding of gendering processes in work and organizations, Lewis’s chapter explores entrepreneurship in the context of the contested notion of post-feminism, linked to neo-conservative values, individualism and processes of liberalization in relation to gender, sexuality and the family.
Gender in leadership and management is the theme of the six chapters comprising Part 2, with some contributions representing the approach problematized by Calás et al. in Chapter 1 (for example, Eagly et al.’s discussion of male and female leadership styles and the advantages offered by women’s leadership, and Powell’s review of four decades of research on gender and leadership). Billing and Alvesson’s chapter suggests, instead, that seeking general correlations between gender and leadership is to ask the wrong question. They point, albeit briefly, to the lack of challenge to capitalist and corporate norms of leadership from efforts to feminize leadership, noting that this may simply lubricate the existing corporate machinery to make it function more effectively. The relationship between neo-liberal market philosophies and gendered discourses is explored in greater depth (in Part 4) in Knights and Tullberg’s chapter, which examines the role of discourses of masculinities in the financial crisis of 2008 and its aftermath. They highlight the homosocial male bonding of remuneration committees protecting privileges and high pay, as well as the masculine competitive performance, based on a sense of precariousness, that encourages risk-taking and contributed to the high-risk financial transactions that resulted in financial crisis. Kumra’s chapter in this section provides a useful critique of the objective basis of merit in career advancement, linked to a re-evaluation of impression management as beneficial for women’s careers.
Part 3 contains a varied collection of chapters grouped under the slightly oddly titled theme of gender and careers, including discussion of sexual harassment (Fielden and Hunt), male-dominated organizational cultures (Burke) and women in non-traditional occupations (Bagilhole). Benschop and Van den Brink compare two gender change strategies: post-equity or ‘small-wins’, based on incremental changes, and the more controversial quotas. They identify the power processes and the resistance involved in each approach, and they suggest that resistance to quotas can be a useful tool in bringing to the surface subtle gender practices and can open possibilities for change.
Masculinities in organizations is the theme of Part 4. Hearn provides an overview of studies on masculinities in management and organizations, and identifies gaps and future directions, specifically theoretical developments around intersectionality, transnationalization and embodiment. Indeed Hearn’s is one of several chapters that call for attention to intersectionality (others include Calás et al. and Paludi et al.), an approach that examines how gender intersects with social divisions such as race, class, sexuality and age. Despite the extensive debates within gender and feminist research on intersectionality, this volume contains surprisingly little empirical engagement with intersectional analysis, particularly of racialized or classed gender relations. Rumens’s chapter in Part 4, however, usefully elucidates the intersections of sexuality and gender in gay and bisexual men’s experiences at work. While not adopting a class analysis, Simpson’s chapter on men in caring occupations is one of the few contributions to examine the experiences of those not in leadership or management positions, drawing on evidence from men working as nurses, primary teachers, librarians and cabin crew. Following McBride et al.’s (2014) welcome exhortation in Work, Employment and Society for studies of work and employment relations to engage with intersectionality, it seems that, if this volume is reflective of the field of research on gender and organizations, then it too could benefit from greater engagement with empirical intersectional analysis that examines processes of class, race and sexuality.
What this Handbook offers, though, is a broad range of theoretical approaches and future directions for the study of gender and organizations, drawn from different disciplines, which can be selectively used by those of a sociological orientation.