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From glass ceiling to inequality regimes

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Abstract

Women are extremely under-represented in top management and professional positions in all countries, although cross-national variations exist. Women from minority ethnic and racial groups suffer from greater under-representation than do majority group women. The “Glass Ceiling” is a metaphor that describes the gender barriers that produce these patterns. This article suggests that “Inequality Regimes” is a more accurate metaphor, as it stands for gender, race and class barriers that obstruct women's opportunities for advancement at all levels of organizational hierarchy. The article discusses the components of inequality regimes and briefly assesses some efforts to change these practices.

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... De modo geral, a análise dos comentários apontou que as barreiras de gênero, etnia e classe que impedem as mulheres a progredirem nas organizações para níveis hierárquicos superiores ainda são densas, constituindo-se em regimes de desigualdade (Acker, 2006(Acker, , 2009, os quais permitem compreender como a desigualdade é criada e reproduzida. Além disso, a análise apontou que os comentários se silenciam sobre a interseccionalidade, não havendo menção sobre duplas ou triplas discriminações. ...
... Portanto, a perspectiva interseccional vai além da análise das relações de poder através de categorizações unidimensionais, promovendo a combinação de outras variáveis sociais (sexo, idade, etnia, deficiência e status de imigração) ao mesmo tempo, o que potencializa a identificação de barreiras á criação de igualdade nas organizações, o queAcker (2006) denomina de regimes de desigualdades, uma metáfora mais precisa do que o fenômeno do teto de vidro. Para essa autora, os regimes de desigualdade constituem em barreiras de gênero, etnia e classe que impedem as mulheres a progredirem nas organizações para níveis hierárquicos superiores, e sua análise permite compreender como a desigualdade é criada e reproduzida nas organizações.Acker (2006Acker ( , 2009 explica que os regimes de desigualdades são mantidos pelas bases da desigualdade (gênero, etnia e classe); forma e gradação das desigualdades (hierarquia, segregação e diferenças de salário); processos organizacionais produtores de desigualdade; e barreiras à promoção de igualdade. A hierarquia é uma característica de organizações burocráticas, em que determinadas posições são ocupadas majoritariamente por homens ou por mulheres, com base em suposições que as diferenças entre homens e mulheres justificam que mulheres sejam mais indicadas a ocupar cargos de cuidados e serviços, enquanto homens estariam mais aptos a cargos com maiores fontes de poder e, portanto, maior remuneração.Acker (2006Acker ( , 2009 apontou cinco processos organizacionais que produzem desigualdade: requisitos gerais de trabalho; hierarquia; recrutamento e seleção; política de salários e práticas de supervisão; e as interações informais no dia a dia da execução do trabalho. ...
... Para essa autora, os regimes de desigualdade constituem em barreiras de gênero, etnia e classe que impedem as mulheres a progredirem nas organizações para níveis hierárquicos superiores, e sua análise permite compreender como a desigualdade é criada e reproduzida nas organizações.Acker (2006Acker ( , 2009 explica que os regimes de desigualdades são mantidos pelas bases da desigualdade (gênero, etnia e classe); forma e gradação das desigualdades (hierarquia, segregação e diferenças de salário); processos organizacionais produtores de desigualdade; e barreiras à promoção de igualdade. A hierarquia é uma característica de organizações burocráticas, em que determinadas posições são ocupadas majoritariamente por homens ou por mulheres, com base em suposições que as diferenças entre homens e mulheres justificam que mulheres sejam mais indicadas a ocupar cargos de cuidados e serviços, enquanto homens estariam mais aptos a cargos com maiores fontes de poder e, portanto, maior remuneração.Acker (2006Acker ( , 2009 apontou cinco processos organizacionais que produzem desigualdade: requisitos gerais de trabalho; hierarquia; recrutamento e seleção; política de salários e práticas de supervisão; e as interações informais no dia a dia da execução do trabalho. Quanto às barreiras à criação de igualdade nas organizações, Acker (2006) destaca três aspectos: a invisibilidade de desigualdades sistêmicas, a legitimidade da desigualdade e os mecanismos utilizados para controlar as pessoas ao mesmo tempo em que mantém as desigualdades entre elas.A invisibilidade da desigualdade se refere ao grau de consciência que se tem das desigualdades, podendo variar e ser intencional, pois as manifestações de desigualdade podem ser ocultas propositadamente por membros da organizaçãoou não intencionalquando não se percebe claramente as desigualdades. ...
... Este ensaio começa assim por analisar a tendência para a feminização da profissão, identificando as principais alterações decorrentes da maior presença e participação feminina nos media, mas também as limitações experienciadas pelas mulheres, analisadas à luz da teoria da massa crítica e da teoria do standpoint feminista (Assmann & Eckert, 2023;Steiner, 2012). De seguida, investiga os contornos da masculinidade hegemónica na cultura das redações (Connell, 1995), percebendo de que forma persistem e operam enquanto regimes de desigualdade (Acker, 2009). Por fim, e tendo em conta a neutralidade de género manifestada pela generalidade dos/as jornalistas quando interrogados sobre as práticas organizativas (Berkowitz, 2009;Nilsson, 2010;Santos et al., 2018), observamos a importância das rotinas (Acker, 1990;Becker & Vlad, 2009;Nilsson, 2010;Reese & Shoemaker, 2016;Ryfe, 2009;Tuchman, 1972) enquanto fatores perpetuadores de assimetrias. ...
... A partir de 2009, o processo de feminização parece ter sido interrompido (Subtil & Silveirinha, 2021), facto que poderá estar diretamente relacionado com a crise que atingiu o setor dos media, marcado pela tendência para a financeirização da informação, de resto ligada sobremaneira à precariedade laboral que, atingindo em particular as faixas etárias mais baixas dos/as profissionais do sector, afetou na sua maior parte as mulheres (Miranda, 2017 continuam afastadas dos principais cargos de direção e de administração das empresas de comunicação (Silveirinha & Simões, 2016). Uma ausência com múltiplos significados do ponto de vista simbólico, mas também com consequências a nível prático, no sentido em que dificulta a vida das mulheres que estão mais abaixo na hierarquia organizacional (Acker, 2009). A hierarquia clássica (Gallagher, 2014), quase blindada, e a cultura sustentada em valores que se confundem com os da própria masculinidade são, precisamente, duas das ideias mais exploradas nos estudos que analisam o género na redação (Byerly, 2011;Djerf-Pierre & Edström, 2020;Macharia, 2015Macharia, , 2020. ...
... É com o objetivo de trazer luz às dinâmicas de género que entrelaçam o tecido social das organizações que Joan Acker contempla a importância dos procedimentos envolvidos (contratação, promoção, salários, horários, etc.), mas também das interações e das expetativas, através das quais se manifestam relações de poder. Neste contexto, sugere o conceito de regimes de desigualdade que, partindo da ideia de regimes de género proposta por Connell, vai um pouco mais longe, articulando questões relacionadas com a classe e/ou a raça (Acker, 2009), trazendo assim uma abordagem interseccional. ...
Article
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This article analyses the trend towards the feminization of the journalism profession in Portugal, identifying changes resulting from the greater female participation in newsrooms, but also some of the challenges that women still face. Despite the transformations that the media sector has undergone in recent decades, newsrooms remain governed by a masculine culture, whose imprints are intertwined with the values of the profession themselves. Attempting to decipher the maintenance of this power regime, the structuring role of routines, as well as the expression of gender neutrality manifested by the class, are observed.
... In this study, we aim to investigate the link between organizational dimensions and the perception of discrimination or unequal treatment in the workplace in a large organization in Belgium. In doing so, we apply Acker's (1990Acker's ( , 2009 framework, adapting and extending its relevance to a non-U.S. context. ...
... Unlike earlier theories, organizational discrimination is not solely driven by individual actions but also involves how an organization's structure contributes to the discrimination of certain groups (Small & Pager, 2020). It is not merely about difficulties in finding employment but also about the systematic inequalities that minorities and vulnerable groups experience throughout their professional careers (Acker, 2009). Walter et al. (2017) suggest that policies, procedures, structures, and the culture within an organization can systematically contribute to unequal outcomes for different groups, even though this is often unintended. ...
... Participants recognize the importance of having a broad network for professional opportunities. Segregated networks can perpetuate inequalities for underrepresented groups, such as women and ethnic minorities, to maintain the privileged position of the majority group (Acker, 2009). ...
Article
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Purpose The context of a long-standing research tradition, discrimination has emerged as a critical factor contributing to inequalities within the labor market. While existing studies have primarily focused on overt discrimination during the recruitment and selection process, influenced by biases, attitudes, or stereotypes, there remains a significant knowledge gap regarding discrimination within the workplace and its underlying structural dimensions. This article aims to address this gap by examining the impact of organizational culture, structure and policies on workplace discrimination, with a particular emphasis on women and ethnic minorities. Design/methodology/approach Utilizing a case study strategy centered around a Belgian branch of a multinational professional service agency, data was gathered through ten semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with employees representing various organizational levels. Findings The findings reveal that organizational culture, structure and policies may pose inherent risks in perpetuating discrimination throughout individuals' professional trajectories. Furthermore, it becomes apparent that, albeit often unconscious, these elements exhibit biases against women and ethnic minorities. Social implications Given the unintentional nature of structural discrimination, it is crucial to foster increased awareness and understanding of these dynamics. Originality/value The originality of this research article lies in its focus on addressing a critical knowledge gap in the existing research tradition on discrimination in the labor market. While previous studies have primarily concentrated on overt discrimination during recruitment and selection, this article delves into the often overlooked area of discrimination within the workplace itself. It explores the intricate interplay of organizational culture, structure and policies in perpetuating discrimination, particularly against women and ethnic minorities. By utilizing a case study approach within a multinational professional service agency in Belgium, the research uncovers hidden biases and unconscious elements contributing to structural discrimination. This emphasis on understanding unintentional discrimination adds a novel dimension to the discourse on workplace inequalities.
... In general, earlier studies have often found that expectations placed on female managers are linked to their gender, in terms of being caring and performing relationship-oriented leadership (Due Billing and Alvesson 2000;Hurst et al. 2017) or being deficient as managers in relation to a male norm in management (Wahl 2014). These studies have often had a primary focus on female managers in male-dominated organisations, and have repeatedly shown that women face gendered barriers in recruitment to and in holding managerial positions (Acker 2006(Acker , 2009Bryans and Mavin 2003). For example, it has been found that female managers do not have the same opportunities for professional support, learning and career development (Acker 2009), and access to strategic social networks and mentors as their male colleagues in male-dominated organisations (Gustavsson and Fogelberg Eriksson 2010;Kossek et al. 2017). ...
... These studies have often had a primary focus on female managers in male-dominated organisations, and have repeatedly shown that women face gendered barriers in recruitment to and in holding managerial positions (Acker 2006(Acker , 2009Bryans and Mavin 2003). For example, it has been found that female managers do not have the same opportunities for professional support, learning and career development (Acker 2009), and access to strategic social networks and mentors as their male colleagues in male-dominated organisations (Gustavsson and Fogelberg Eriksson 2010;Kossek et al. 2017). ...
... These expectations related to gender, but also to other qualities associated with the capacity of being a manager ('intersectional perspective ' Acker 2006;or 'power axes' Wenger 2010) in this community. For example, male managers experienced how their legitimacy was obstructed by female managers, but both female and male managers shared common notions of male privilege among managers in general (Acker 2009;Heilman 2012), and even within elderly care (Keisu 2009). In addition, men were not expected to stay, but to advance to higher management positions. ...
Article
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The aim of the article is to examine first-line managers' experiences of their managerial role and gender in elderly care. Forty qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with first-line managers (35 women and five men) from four different organisations in Sweden. The findings suggest that the role of first-line managers was formed in everyday managerial work in two communities of practice: the care work community and the first-line manager community. The managers' navigation between these two communities of practice created dual memberships. These memberships differed depending on micropolitical processes which arose in relation to their position, expectations and gender stereotypes. A female norm ruled within the first-line manager community, providing middle-aged women with elderly care experience with a greater legitimacy to control the community, while men were not so easily accepted. On the other hand, the male norm was more prominent in the care work community in line with managerial ideals and male managers received more credit as being more capable as managers. The study contributes by demonstrating that the managerial role and gender manifested themselves in different ways within these two communities of practice and provided different conditions, giving women and men different benefits or unequal conditions for performing leadership. ARTICLE HISTORY
... Organizations are no exception. According to (Acker, 1990(Acker, , 2009Mills et al., 1992;Shafritz et al., 2015), Gendered Organizations can be explained as a set of four processes: (1) Production of gender divisions, (2) Creation of symbols and/or images that justify these gender divisions, (3) Interactions between elements of an organization, (4) Internal interpretations of individuals in the organization. ...
... The Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and the Equal Educational Opportunity laws were strengthened in 1972 (Reskin & National Research Council (U.S.), 1984), but still, there remained this rising imbalance. The scholarly work that followed, further highlighted the various socio-economic inequities that emerged as a result of occupational sex segregation, such as the concentration of women at lower levels in the organization (Bergmann, 1974;Bose & Rossi, 1983;Mincer & Ofek, 1982;Weeden, 1998), underrepresentation in leadership roles (Acker, 2009;Hultin, 2003;Lepak & Snell, 1999;Maume Jr, 1999;Mincer & Ofek, 1982), lower wages for women (Becker, 1985;Bergmann, 1974;Bose & Rossi, 1983;Polachek, 1987) and an overall devaluation of women's work (England et al., 2000;Grimshaw et al., 2007;Grönlund & Magnusson, 2013;Marshall, 1985;Tam, 1997). ...
... The classic work by Emerson (1962) highlights the dependence of actors on one another due to the valuable resources that may have been acquired by one. Research establishes that men have historically enjoyed more power than women (Acker, 1990(Acker, , 2009). This has led them to serve in higher positions, to govern key societal resources, and to have the liberty to exercise authority as they wish which partially explains the emergence of a patriarchal society. ...
Article
Full-text available
Employees’ perceived fairness of their pay is critical for their satisfaction, commitment and job engagement. Women comprise nearly 50 per cent of the modern workforce; therefore, their satisfaction with their pay is crucial for organizations. However, statistics show that the gender pay gap is still persistent all around the world, and has even widened post the Covid-19 pandemic. To move ahead, taking a few steps backwards sometimes becomes imperative. This paper is a stepping stone in that direction as it argues that the widening of the ‘gender pay gap’ is deeply rooted in the institutionalization of ‘gendered notions’ in organizations. To efficiently tackle gender-related power imbalance in organizations, it is important to understand how a ‘gendered organization’ came into being and its effects cascaded over the decades. Moreover, this area of research has numerous scholarly contributions that span more than a hundred years. This wide gamut of research not only intimidates new scholars but also makes it extremely difficult for them to extract relevant information. To bridge this gap, the main objective of this study is to present a crisp review on the evolution and institutionalization of ‘Gendered Organizations’ and discuss their impact on gender-related issues, particularly, the ‘Gender Pay Gap’. Drawing on Institutional, Human Capital and Feminist Theories, this paper sheds light on the seminal work by gender scholars and illustrates how gender pay gap is a consequence of institutionalized gendered norms and occupational sex segregation. This review enhances the comprehensive contemplation of gender-related issues in organizations and encourages practitioners to devise concrete means to battle its social impact.
... Feminists are now more likely to focus their critique on management practices arising from their concern with the working conditions of women, their salary levels and their access to power (Acker, 2009). Feminist activist groups address new criticisms to institutions and organisations, specifically organisational practices regarding women's issues and status. ...
... This chapter analyses the case of a feminist activist group denouncing the absence of women in positions of power. It describes the tactical repertoire (Taylor and Van Dyke, 2004;Fillieule, 2010) of this movement in order to understand how activists aspire to effect remedies for inequality in organisations (Acker, 2009). In this chapter I draw on a qualitative methodology to document how discourse, objects and the activists' demeanour interact and are used to induce change in an organisation. ...
... To quote Manon: 'We don't target individuals, we target the structure' (interview with Manon, 26 September 2011); meaning that La Barbe is not interested in criticising men as individuals, but rather as members of a social group, holding privileged positions within specific networks and places such as the targeted organisations. Second, La Barbe challenges management by illuminating the invisibility of discrimination in organisations (Acker, 2009), and focuses on the injustice rather than on the lack of performance discrimination produces (a common trope in management, see Béréni, 2009). Third, La Barbe's critique represents a new form of feminist activism. ...
... Although there has been already a significant contribution from academia concerning the analysis of newsrooms as gendered organizations (Bruin and Ross, 2004), the role of female leaders and the effects that they may trigger remain to be investigated (Byerly and McGraw, 2020;Eckert and Assmann, 2021). Besides understanding how they exercise power and impact contents, it is important to perceive to what extent they reinforce or contradict the male norm (Baumann, 2017), assessing how they facilitate or not the lives of other women lower down the hierarchy (Acker, 2009). ...
... To investigate leadership dynamics and better understand the presenceat different levelsof women in newsrooms, one must start by recognizing that organizations are not gender neutral and we refer to feminist authors as Acker (1990Acker ( , 2009, Connell (2005), and Gill (2007), followed by other more recent works of Skeath et al. (2019), Eckert and Assmann (2021), Topic (2021), and Silveirinha et al. (2023). Acker (1990) had an important role identifying the five processes in which gender is daily (re)constructed: gender typing, referring to the notions of gender attached to certain fields/jobs; gender symbolism, associated to the unconscious constructions about a specific occupation; interactionsinevitably scarred by patterns of dominance and subordination; gender expectations, sustained in ideas and beliefs about the notions of masculinity and femininity; and, finally, gendered professional identities, i.e. the constructed beliefs which informs constructions and practices in every social structure, organizations included (Nilsson, 2010). ...
... It is also important to consider the persistence of gender inequalities in organizations, understood as an outcome of cognitive mechanisms that, despite possible changes, endure during times (Acker, 2009). Cal as et al. (2013 explained how these cognitive processes, underpinned by theories of leadership also conditioned by stereotypes, impact the perceptions concerning women. ...
Article
Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand challenges and constraints in reaching top leadership positions for women in the Portuguese press. Specifically, it aims at characterizing their communication and leadership styles, and at identifying main gender biases in newsrooms routines from their point of view. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative method was employed by conducting in-depth interviews with four women who have held higher management positions in Portuguese leading newspapers. Participants were asked to characterize their communication and leadership style, but also newsrooms environment, trying to understand how gender asymmetries persist and manifest. Results were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings While considering that Portuguese newsrooms are no longer environments marked by a sexist/macho environment, through increasing female participation, women still represent a minority in leadership. Leadership traits linked to male styles, including assertiveness and courage, were revealed, though mixed with a more participative/relational leadership. Also, female leaders regret when emotional ties with teams are not developed and recognized some degree of privilege towards other women through family support or not having children. Research limitations/implications There is a limited number of interviews, although they represent the few top women leaders in Portuguese journalism. Practical implications Policymaking recommendations derived from conclusions include participative leadership, implementing quotas, and monitoring tools of gender biases and special training. Social implications Media literacy policies and open debates on main media outlets concerning female leadership and communication styles may contributes toward the acknowledgement of lingering gender biases in the industry. Originality/value This study contributes to a fuller insight into the identification of leadership and personal traits among women who managed to disrupt stigmas and break barriers. Their voices are seldom heard in studies focusing leadership, so results enable ascertaining whether there is a female way of leading in journalism and comprehending the sense of privilege these women perceive.
... The five basic processes of gendered divisions of labor, gendered identities, gendered culture, interactions and organizational logic are the main gendered practices in an organization. Analyzing these elements enables an understanding of how gendered structures are maintained (Acker, 1990(Acker, , 2009(Acker, , 2012Bates, 2022;Dye ve Mills, 2012). In this study, which has been designed based on the gendered organization theory, the experiences and thoughts of female security officers regarding five basic organizational processes are analyzed. ...
... Mesleklerin, sektörlerin veya işkollarının toplumsal cinsiyet temelinde kadın/erkek işi olarak ayrışması kadınların evle ilgili işlerinin uzantısı olan eğitim, sağlık, bakım ve tekstil gibi sektörlerde; erkeklerin ise teknoloji, otomobil, mühendislik, askerlik gibi alanlarda yoğunlaşmasına sebep olmaktadır (Güneş, 2019, s. 124 Acker (1990;2009)'ın cinsiyetlendirilmiş örgüt teorisi (gendered organization theory) araştırmada teorik mercek olarak benimsenmiştir. ...
Article
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ne Çıkanlar • Bu makale, kadın güvenlik görevlilerinin toplumsal cinsiyet deneyimlerini yorumsamacı metodoloji ekseninde ele almaktadır. • Araştırma bulguları, örgütsel süreçlerde toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizliklerinin nasıl üretildiğini ortaya koymaktadır. • Kadın güvenlik görevlilerinin deneyimleri; kimlikler, etkileşimler, bölünmeler, cinsiyetçi kültür ve örgütsel mantık çerçevesinde analiz edilmektedir. • Araştırma, erkek egemen yapının korunmasında örgütsel süreçlerin etkisini göstermesi yönüyle örgüt teorisi alanına katkı sunmaktadır. Öz: Bu araştırma, toplumda erkek egemen bir meslek olarak bilinen güvenlik görevliliğinde çalışan kadınların cinsiyetlendirilmiş örgüt olgusuna yönelik deneyimlerini konu edinmektedir. Kadın güvenlik görevlilerinin cinsiyetlendirilmiş örgüt olgusunu hangi örgütsel süreçlerde ve nasıl deneyimlediklerini anlamak, anlamlandırmak ve yorumlamak bu araştırmanın temel amacıdır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda araştırmada nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden yorumlayıcı fenomenoloji desenine uygun bir araştırma süreci takip edilmiştir. Aksaray ilindeki çeşitli kamu kurumlarında çalışan 11 kadın güvenlik görevlisiyle yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler yapılmıştır. Tümdengelime dayalı tematik analiz yöntemiyle analiz edilen veriler, cinsiyetlendirilmiş örgüt teorisi kapsamında beş tema altında sınıflandırılmıştır. Bu temalar: cinsiyetlendirilmiş kimlikler, etkileşimler, toplumsal cinsiyete dayalı bölünmeler, cinsiyetçi kültür ve örgütsel mantıktır. Araştırma sonuçları kadın güvenlik görevlilerinin yer aldığı çalışma ortamlarının, toplumsal cinsiyet kalıp yargılarıyla uyumlu kadın kimliğini yeniden ürettiğini ortaya koymuştur. Yanı sıra kadın güvenliklerin üniformalarıyla kurdukları bağ, üniformanın erkekliğin üretimindeki önemli sembollerden biri olduğunu açığa çıkarmıştır. Kadınların kültürel bakımdan erkeklerle özdeşleşmiş mesleklere erişebilmeleri, toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizliklerinin aşılması için önem taşısa da kadınların bu alanlara girdikten sonra yaşadıkları deneyimler eşitsizliklerin çeşitli örgütsel süreçler yoluyla üretilmeye devam ettiğini göstermektedir. Highlights: • This article examines the gendered experiences of female security guards through an interpretive methodology. • The research findings reveal how gender inequalities are reproduced within organizational processes. • The experiences of female security guards are analyzed in the context of identities, interactions, divisions, gendered culture, and organizational logic. • The study contributes to organizational theory by demonstrating the impact of organizational processes in maintaining a male-dominated structure. Abstract: This research is about the experiences of women working as security guards, known as a male-dominated profession in society, regarding the phenomenon of gendered organization. The main purpose of this research is to understand, make sense of and interpret how and in which organizational processes female security officers experience the gendered organization phenomenon. For this purpose, a research process in accordance with the interpretive phenomenology pattern, one of the qualitative research methods, is followed in the study. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with 11 female security officers working in various public institutions in Aksaray province. The data analyzed with the deductive thematic analysis method is classified under five themes within the scope of gendered organization theory. These themes are: gendered identities, interactions, gender divisions, gendering culture, and organizational logic. The research results reveal that work environments where female security guards work reproduce the female identity compatible with gender stereotypes. In addition, the bond that female security guards establish with their uniforms has revealed that the uniform is one of the important symbols in the production of masculinity. Although women's access to professions that are culturally identified with men is important for overcoming gender inequalities, the experiences women experience after entering these fields show that inequalities continue to be produced through various organizational processes.
... The five basic processes of gendered divisions of labor, gendered identities, gendered culture, interactions and organizational logic are the main gendered practices in an organization. Analyzing these elements enables an understanding of how gendered structures are maintained (Acker, 1990(Acker, , 2009(Acker, , 2012Bates, 2022;Dye ve Mills, 2012). In this study, which has been designed based on the gendered organization theory, the experiences and thoughts of female security officers regarding five basic organizational processes are analyzed. ...
... Mesleklerin, sektörlerin veya işkollarının toplumsal cinsiyet temelinde kadın/erkek işi olarak ayrışması kadınların evle ilgili işlerinin uzantısı olan eğitim, sağlık, bakım ve tekstil gibi sektörlerde; erkeklerin ise teknoloji, otomobil, mühendislik, askerlik gibi alanlarda yoğunlaşmasına sebep olmaktadır (Güneş, 2019, s. 124 Acker (1990;2009)'ın cinsiyetlendirilmiş örgüt teorisi (gendered organization theory) araştırmada teorik mercek olarak benimsenmiştir. ...
Article
ne Çıkanlar • Bu makale, kadın güvenlik görevlilerinin toplumsal cinsiyet deneyimlerini yorumsamacı metodoloji ekseninde ele almaktadır. • Araştırma bulguları, örgütsel süreçlerde toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizliklerinin nasıl üretildiğini ortaya koymaktadır. • Kadın güvenlik görevlilerinin deneyimleri; kimlikler, etkileşimler, bölünmeler, cinsiyetçi kültür ve örgütsel mantık çerçevesinde analiz edilmektedir. • Araştırma, erkek egemen yapının korunmasında örgütsel süreçlerin etkisini göstermesi yönüyle örgüt teorisi alanına katkı sunmaktadır. Öz: Bu araştırma, toplumda erkek egemen bir meslek olarak bilinen güvenlik görevliliğinde çalışan kadınların cinsiyetlendirilmiş örgüt olgusuna yönelik deneyimlerini konu edinmektedir. Kadın güvenlik görevlilerinin cinsiyetlendirilmiş örgüt olgusunu hangi örgütsel süreçlerde ve nasıl deneyimlediklerini anlamak, anlamlandırmak ve yorumlamak bu araştırmanın temel amacıdır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda araştırmada nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden yorumlayıcı fenomenoloji desenine uygun bir araştırma süreci takip edilmiştir. Aksaray ilindeki çeşitli kamu kurumlarında çalışan 11 kadın güvenlik görevlisiyle yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler yapılmıştır. Tümdengelime dayalı tematik analiz yöntemiyle analiz edilen veriler, cinsiyetlendirilmiş örgüt teorisi kapsamında beş tema altında sınıflandırılmıştır. Bu temalar: cinsiyetlendirilmiş kimlikler, etkileşimler, toplumsal cinsiyete dayalı bölünmeler, cinsiyetçi kültür ve örgütsel mantıktır. Araştırma sonuçları kadın güvenlik görevlilerinin yer aldığı çalışma ortamlarının, toplumsal cinsiyet kalıp yargılarıyla uyumlu kadın kimliğini yeniden ürettiğini ortaya koymuştur. Yanı sıra kadın güvenliklerin üniformalarıyla kurdukları bağ, üniformanın erkekliğin üretimindeki önemli sembollerden biri olduğunu açığa çıkarmıştır. Kadınların kültürel bakımdan erkeklerle özdeşleşmiş mesleklere erişebilmeleri, toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizliklerinin aşılması için önem taşısa da kadınların bu alanlara girdikten sonra yaşadıkları deneyimler eşitsizliklerin çeşitli örgütsel süreçler yoluyla üretilmeye devam ettiğini göstermektedir. Highlights: • This article examines the gendered experiences of female security guards through an interpretive methodology. • The research findings reveal how gender inequalities are reproduced within organizational processes. • The experiences of female security guards are analyzed in the context of identities, interactions, divisions, gendered culture, and organizational logic. • The study contributes to organizational theory by demonstrating the impact of organizational processes in maintaining a male-dominated structure. Abstract: This research is about the experiences of women working as security guards, known as a male-dominated profession in society, regarding the phenomenon of gendered organization. The main purpose of this research is to understand, make sense of and interpret how and in which organizational processes female security officers experience the gendered organization phenomenon. For this purpose, a research process in accordance with the interpretive phenomenology pattern, one of the qualitative research methods, is followed in the study. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with 11 female security officers working in various public institutions in Aksaray province. The data analyzed with the deductive thematic analysis method is classified under five themes within the scope of gendered organization theory. These themes are: gendered identities, interactions, gender divisions, gendering culture, and organizational logic. The research results reveal that work environments where female security guards work reproduce the female identity compatible with gender stereotypes. In addition, the bond that female security guards establish with their uniforms has revealed that the uniform is one of the important symbols in the production of masculinity. Although women's access to professions that are culturally identified with men is important for overcoming gender inequalities, the experiences women experience after entering these fields show that inequalities continue to be produced through various organizational processes.
... The five basic processes of gendered divisions of labor, gendered identities, gendered culture, interactions and organizational logic are the main gendered practices in an organization. Analyzing these elements enables an understanding of how gendered structures are maintained (Acker, 1990(Acker, , 2009(Acker, , 2012Bates, 2022;Dye ve Mills, 2012). In this study, which has been designed based on the gendered organization theory, the experiences and thoughts of female security officers regarding five basic organizational processes are analyzed. ...
... Mesleklerin, sektörlerin veya işkollarının toplumsal cinsiyet temelinde kadın/erkek işi olarak ayrışması kadınların evle ilgili işlerinin uzantısı olan eğitim, sağlık, bakım ve tekstil gibi sektörlerde; erkeklerin ise teknoloji, otomobil, mühendislik, askerlik gibi alanlarda yoğunlaşmasına sebep olmaktadır (Güneş, 2019, s. 124 Acker (1990;2009)'ın cinsiyetlendirilmiş örgüt teorisi (gendered organization theory) araştırmada teorik mercek olarak benimsenmiştir. ...
Article
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Bu araştırma, toplumda erkek egemen bir meslek olarak bilinen güvenlik görevliliğinde çalışan kadınların cinsiyetlendirilmiş örgüt olgusuna yönelik deneyimlerini konu edinmektedir. Kadın güvenlik görevlilerinin cinsiyetlendirilmiş örgüt olgusunu hangi örgütsel süreçlerde ve nasıl deneyimlediklerini anlamak, anlamlandırmak ve yorumlamak bu araştırmanın temel amacıdır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda araştırmada nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden yorumlayıcı fenomenoloji desenine uygun bir araştırma süreci takip edilmiştir. Aksaray ilindeki çeşitli kamu kurumlarında çalışan 11 kadın güvenlik görevlisiyle yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler yapılmıştır. Tümdengelime dayalı tematik analiz yöntemiyle analiz edilen veriler, cinsiyetlendirilmiş örgüt teorisi kapsamında beş tema altında sınıflandırılmıştır. Bu temalar: cinsiyetlendirilmiş kimlikler, etkileşimler, toplumsal cinsiyete dayalı bölünmeler, cinsiyetçi kültür ve örgütsel mantıktır. Kadınların kültürel bakımdan erkeklerle özdeşleşmiş mesleklere erişebilmeleri, toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizliklerinin aşılması için önem taşısa da kadınların bu alanlara girdikten sonra yaşadıkları deneyimler eşitsizliklerin çeşitli örgütsel süreçler yoluyla üretilmeye devam ettiğini göstermektedir.
... The inability of women to place work before family responsibilities is a major source of the inequality regimes (Acker, 2009). Many respondents find balancing family with a career very challenging. ...
... This study highlighted a number of themes such as career disablers, microaggressions, female penalty, gender structure of organisations and inflexible working conditions that help understand the sources of gender discrimination and dissatisfaction in organisations. Finally, the study leads to the conclusion that achieving gender equality and creating a level playing field for women employees in the hospitality industry is a work in progress and supports Acker's (2009Acker's ( , 2012 view of gendered organisations being the source of career disablers hindering women's career progression. This study, while conducted before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, raises issues for employers and wider society in the UK that have strong resonance in a post-pandemic world where organisations and work, in all sectors including hospitality, are likely to emerge as very different to their pre-pandemic forms. ...
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Women face numerous challenges in building a successful career. The hospitality industry exemplifies workplaces where women find progressing careers to senior management very challenging. This paper explores barriers to women's career progression in the hospitality industry in the United Kingdom (UK). The study analyses the views of women in management positions in the UK hospitality industry on challenges they face in career progression. The findings indicate that women face numerous barriers in their career paths, and these include gender bias, microaggressions, work‐life balance issues, lack of gender diversity, inflexibility, and mentoring.
... 24 Moreover, the medical profession continues to be rigidly framed around an "ideal" model of a doctor. 25 Indeed, depictions of the ideal doctor as an "unencumbered worker" 25 are helpful in understanding the Indian context, where rigid gendered norms around roles and responsibilities persist, constraining women's progression. 3 This also highlights one of the limitations of the pipeline argument since it is underpinned by assumptions based on a typical masculine career pattern. ...
... 24 Moreover, the medical profession continues to be rigidly framed around an "ideal" model of a doctor. 25 Indeed, depictions of the ideal doctor as an "unencumbered worker" 25 are helpful in understanding the Indian context, where rigid gendered norms around roles and responsibilities persist, constraining women's progression. 3 This also highlights one of the limitations of the pipeline argument since it is underpinned by assumptions based on a typical masculine career pattern. ...
Article
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Using India as a case study, Jasmine Gideon and colleagues argue that considering how gender perspectives operate within health systems and society can help achieve more inclusive health leadership
... The rapid, large-scale entry of women into the practice of law in recent decades has begun to challenge customs, standards and patterns of behaviour within the legal profession (Macerollo, 2008;Bolton & Muzio, 2008;. However, the feminisation of occupations often coexists with widespread gender discrimination based on entrenched masculinist practices and gender stereotypes that maintain male privilege in a profession (Sommerlad, 2002;Bolton & Muzio, 2008;Acker, 2009;Tomlinson et al., 2013). This is also the case within the legal profession, ...
... of gender inequalities in organisational settings (Acker, 2009;. Under the Swiss 'neo-maternalistic' gender regime (Giraud & Lucas, 2009) women, particularly mothers, are expected to have a reduced participation in the labour force and to downgrade their professional aspirations. ...
Book
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This book guides the reader in discovering contemporary professions and the critical changes they have lived through after the post-industrial transformation of advanced capitalist societies. Two interrelated concepts are used to interpret what is happening in professional work: differentiation, namely the set of processes by which professions and professionalism have become more diverse, and heterogeneity, the outcomes of such processes. A novel analytical framework delves into differentiation and understands heterogeneity based on three dimensions: within (how professions are structured internally), between (how professions distinguish themselves from other occupations and from each other), and beyond (how professions govern societal changes and influence differentiation processes). The book presents a collection of studies covering different countries and professions to demonstrate the analytical potential of the within-between-beyond model. The conclusions show how “neo-liberal” professionalism is putting the very idea of collegiate professions at stake while exposing emerging professions to market risks.
... 1 Introduction e rapid, large-scale entry of women into the practice of law in recent decades has begun to challenge customs, standards and patterns of behaviour within the legal profession (Macerollo, 2008;Bolton & Muzio, 2008;Sommerlad, 2016). However, the feminisation of occupations often coexists with widespread gender discrimination based on entrenched masculinist practices and gender stereotypes that maintain male privilege in a profession (Sommerlad, 2002;Bolton & Muzio, 2008;Acker, 2009;Tomlinson et al., 2013). is is also the case within the legal profession, V. Insarauto ( ) • E. Lépinard Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland e-mail: valeria.insarauto@unil.ch; eleonore.lepinard@unil.ch ...
... e term gender regime refers to the various social structures and normative expectations that shape gender relations and gender roles in a given society (Walby, 2004), but also to the institutionalisation 1 e 'Gendered Globalization of the Legal Professions' project was carried out between 2015 and 2020, and aimed to study how globalisation a ects women's legal careers in France and Switzerland, attempting to determine whether gender inequalities in the legal profession of these two countries are being eroded by the increasing share of women lawyers. It was based on a mixed-methods approach combining a large-scale survey and face-to-face interviews. of gender inequalities in organisational settings (Acker, 2009;Boni-Le Go et al., 2019). ...
Chapter
This chapter explores to what extent the early stages of a legal career are characterised by alternative models of professionalism, and how these models relate to perceptions of gender discrimination. Drawing on quantitative data collected in the context of a comparative study on lawyers in France and in Switzerland, our study reveals four models of professionalism: alongside archetypical ‘male-centred organisational’ professionalism, which assumes the paradigmatic professional to be male, there are alternative models that are differently characterised and distributed among men and women in the two countries. In the case of women, all these models are related to perceptions of gender discrimination. These results suggest that, for female lawyers, a shift away from the male professional norm is only marginally related to new forms of power and sources of legitimacy within the legal profession. However, they also reveal that, in the long term, women may play a significant part in contesting and challenging this norm. The chapter contributes to the ‘within’ dimension of professionalism in that it exposes how, against a background of the occupation becoming extensively feminised, masculine standards of professionalism continue to function as an internal form of social closure that perpetuates gender inequalities within this profession.KeywordsGendered models of professionalismPerceived gender discriminationMale professional normDiversificationSegmentationLawyers
... | INTRODUCTION Joan Acker's work (1990, 2006a, 2006b, 2009 is celebrated as some of the most influential gender analyses in management and organization studies. Through her main conceptual tools of the "gendered organization" and its "substructure" as well as the idea of "inequality regimes," she managed to paint a clearer picture of the integrative processes at play when women seek professional advancement in different organizational contexts with firm beliefs of equity. ...
... Oftentimes, the focus has been on the masculine embodiment and underpinnings of this norm (ibid), showing how women are disadvantaged in relation to it (e.g., Butler & Charles, 2012). Notably, Acker's later work around "inequality regimes" (Acker, 2006c(Acker, , 2009) extended theorizing to consider how other processes of inequalities, including class and race, are entwined in complex but meaningful ways (Sayce, 2019). Acker defines inequality regimes as "loosely interrelated practices, processes, actions and meanings that result in and maintain class, gender and racial inequalities within particular organizations" (Acker, 2006c, p. 443). ...
Article
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The idea that a “single category”—focus in the study of workplace inequality leads to oversimplification and obscures its complex nature is now generally accepted. Yet few concerns have been raised with regard to the “single species”—focus of inequalities in the context of management and organization studies. In this paper, we shed light on the interplay of multiple inequalities in the multispecies, sex‐integrated setting of equine (sports) business in the Belgian context, and paying particular attention to show jumping activities. An Ackerian analysis reveals the persistence of gendered inequalities despite women's “theoretically” improved chances of identifying with the ideal rider construct, following changed breeding preferences and an organizational logic of “passion‐merit.” Popular imageries of horses paradoxically reveal the lack of agency awarded to animals and the instrumental nature of the human–horse bond. This study opens the debate on how nonhuman animals may be integrated into core feminist organizational concepts, looking at organizational logic through a multispecies lens. We initiate a claim to knowledge about overlapping and intersecting forms of inequality in a posthumanist spirit whilst reflexively acknowledging our human‐centered approach to data collection. Finally, we ponder upon the question of what ontological and methodological shifts would be required to convincingly speak of multispecies inequality regimes.
... Similarly, systemic issues related to gender bias and lack of support structures contribute to the underrepresentation of females in leadership in Mexico (Maheshwari et al., 2023) and in Vietnam (Gao et al., 2023). The glass ceiling barrier, influenced by cultural and structural factors, also persists in the developed nations as well (Acker, 2009). that relates to how women, who have obtained leadership positions in male-dominant environments, tend to block other female colleagues from any chances for obtaining any leadership positions (e.g., Derks et al., 2016;Tchindebet et al., 2024). ...
Article
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This paper explores the perceptions and experiences of female academics on the main barriers that face female academics in obtaining and continuing leadership roles at Yemeni higher education institutions. By following a case study design, and employing semi-structured, in-depth interviews with fifteen female academics, the findings revealed a multifaceted interplay of barriers facing female academics. The main barriers for obtaining leadership positions relate to socio-cultural barriers such as traditional gender roles, societal stereotypes and patriarchal norms, female academics' struggle to balance between professional and family responsibilities, the violation of work ethics and less collaboration between colleagues, and the invisible barrier of glass ceiling. The findings also revealed the factors for demotivating female academics to continuing their leadership roles. The key factors associate with the lack of motivation and the experience of leadership as a stressful activity, and the spousal refusal toward interaction with male colleagues. The paper concludes with proposing clear measures and implications for promoting and empowering female academics, achieving both social justice and inclusive academic environment.
... They suggest that women employees face more obstacles than men in the same capacity regarding their rights and have begun to appear more heavily in publications since the 1980s. The glass ceiling effect, regarded as a significant impediment in companies, can be overcome by quite a few women today (Acker, 2009;Glass and Cook, 2016). Glass ceilings are associated with women's access to management levels to obtain earnings and recognition. ...
Article
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Introduction Recently, women have been taking leadership positions in the hope of reducing gender inequality. However, it is unclear whether these female leaders have made a significant contribution to closing the gender gap. Guided by social role theory, this research explored the roles of female principals in reducing gender inequality in primary schools. Methods The study used a multisite case study design. Data were collected from 39 respondents: female directors, male and female students, and male and female teachers. Focus group discussions and interviews were the tools for gathering relevant data. The study utilized a six-staged thematic analysis approach with the help of NVivo 11 versions of qualitative analysis software. Results The study revealed that, besides being role models and counselors to female students, the role of female directors in minimizing gender inequality was insufficient due to the deeply entrenched traditional discrimination against women. Discussion Gender inequality in education stems from social roles, and female principals are assumed to help avoid or minimize gender disparity in a male-dominated world. However, achieving gender equality requires the collective efforts of parents, principals, society, and the government. Future quantitative or mixed-method research is important to determine the extent to which female principals have contributed to reducing gender inequality.
... The glass ceiling concept was invented in the 1970s to illustrate the constraints women experience in advancing their professional careers in the labour force, pointing out the deep structures in an organization as the significant constraints to their advancement (Wirth, 2001;Acker, 2006Acker, , 2009). Wirth describes the glass ceiling as the unseen artificial hurdles created by attitudinal and organizational biases that block women from advancing to top echelon positions. ...
Thesis
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This research examines the factors that explain the progress and challenges encountered to achieve a more diverse and gender-sensitive workplace in Dutch water organizations. Furthermore, it explores the impact of the Dutch gender policy on enhancing gender equality in the Dutch water sector. The study's findings are drawn from qualitative research of nine women and three men working in high-level management positions in various water sector organizations in the Netherlands. Also, the study engages secondary data on gender and water management and relevant studies on ethnicity and diversity. The secondary data was collected from organizational reports, policy documents, previous research, journals, articles, and web pages. The Netherlands has a rich history of engagements with water, which has shaped the physical and institutional landscape and the Dutch culture. At the same time, the country has long-standing traditional equality policies that aim to address the emancipation of women, including gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and other social dimensions. The findings indicate that women are still significantly underrepresented in technical fields but overrepresented in other fields, such as human resources and communications. Gender biases and stereotypes are portrayed in gender roles and education, hindering gender career advancement. Despite the long history of anti-discrimination and gender equality, women continue to be underrepresented at all levels of management as men’s dominance persists in the Dutch water sector. Nonetheless, the findings provide insight into a slow yet steady paradigm shift in gender roles and the representation of women in the Dutch water sector. Keywords: The Netherland, Dutch water sector, Gender, Ethnicity, Dutch gender policy
... The global hotel industry is renowned for its fast-paced and demanding nature, requiring diverse skills and competencies for success. Despite the industry's reliance on a talented and skilled workforce, there remains a palpable gender gap in leadership roles (Acker, 2009). ...
Article
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This study explores the intricate web of factors influencing women's career advancement in the hotel industry, shedding light on the multifaceted challenges and potential catalysts that shape their professional trajectories. Despite the industry's dynamic nature, a gender gap persists at leadership levels, prompting a critical examination of the underlying determinants. The study synthesizes existing research, drawing on studies that investigate the impact of workplace culture, gender bias, mentorship programs, work-life balance, and educational opportunities on the career progression of women within hotel management. By synthesizing current research on these critical factors, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by women in the hotel industry. It identifies potential avenues for fostering career advancement. The insights derived from this review not only contribute to the academic discourse on gender diversity but also offer practical implications for organizational policies and industry-wide initiatives geared towards creating more equitable and inclusive pathways for women in hotel management roles.
... Even though managers hold the same managerial position, this does not mean that they face the same expectations from others. For example, numerous studies point to the different expectations that women and men in managerial positions face, which affect their everyday learning, as well as their career advancement (Acker, 2009;Gustavsson & Fogelberg Eriksson, 2010;Kanter, 1977;McMillan & Fenwick, 2008). Bryans and Mavin (2003) describes how women's learning in everyday work differ from their male colleagues. ...
Thesis
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The overall aim of this thesis is to contribute knowledge about first-line managers’ learning in everyday work within the context of elderly care. The study was carried out in four elderly care organisations. Forty first-line managers were interviewed, 10 of whom kept a time-use diary. The findings show that managers’ learning happened in a stream of varied tasks and interactions shaped by conditions in the workplace. The work was characterised by unpredictability and changing circumstances, which meant that the managers continuously had to learn how to handle new situations and expand their repertoire of practices. Three conclusions are drawn from this study. First, managers took great responsibility for their own learning. Self-directed learning allowed the managers to choose action alternatives based on their preferences, which usually involved relying on informal networks and personal relationships. Second, work relationships played a significant role in managers’ learning. The relationship with other first-line managers provided support for learning through, for example, knowledge exchange and joint discussions, and constituted emotional support. Relationships with subordinates were also significant for managers’ learning and could result in solutions to complex issues regarding daily operations. Third, gendered expectations affected managers’ work and learning in different ways. Male managers could more easily gain approval and legitimacy among their subordinates, while female managers had to navigate between expectations associated with femininity and the managerial role. Female managers had more opportunities to find like-minded first-line managers and establish influential positions, while male managers could encounter challenges in establishing relationships and becoming part of the first-line manager community.
... These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the enduring gender pay gap, which ultimately cannot be attributed solely to factors on the supply side of the labor market. Rather, it appears to be a product of deeply entrenched cultural norms, informal interpersonal interactions, and pervasive stereotypes, as corroborated by arguments proposed elsewhere (on this see, for example, Acker 2006, 2009and Eagly and Karau, 1990. Consequently, outsourcing serves as an amplification mechanism for the gender gap, particularly among those at the lower end of the wage spectrum. ...
Article
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This paper examines the wage penalty of outsourced workers in France, providing novel insights to the existing literature. First, it investigates the extent to which the wage penalty differs between outsourced male and female workers. Our results reveal that outsourced workers experience pronounced wage penalty, with this effect being stronger for women. Second, in contrast to most studies, we analyse outsourcing across the entire job distribution. We find that the wage penalty is significantly higher for outsourced workers employed in jobs at the lower end of the wage distribution compared to those employed at the top. Third, we assess whether the wage penalty experienced by outsourced workers can be attributed to the tasks they perform, such as repetitiveness, forms of control, and managerial duties. The results show that the tasks performed, while can alter the wage penalty, do not significantly reshape the main results. Thus, differences in tasks do not appear to be a determining factor in the wage penalty of outsourced workers. Longitudinal analysis strengthens the validity of the cross-sectional findings, highlighting that the wage penalty associated with outsourcing does not result from shifts in individual employee characteristics but rather from disparities in their job status and other time-invariant attributes. In summary, being an outsourced worker implies a degradation in wage treatment, which is exacerbated by gender. Given the increasing importance of this employment practice, it underscores the urgent need for policy interventions to address these critical issues.
... By 'relational work skills', we do not refer to empathy or social competence in general but skills to strike a balance between one's own and others' interests and to resist the demands of powerful counterparties without ruining one's relationships with them. This balance, however, is related to organisational expectations regarding which faculty members should conduct what kind of tasks, meaning that participants enter the negotiations from very different starting points.In classical studies of men and women in organisations, gender is seen as one of the fundamental principles for creating and maintaining organisational structures(Acker, 1990(Acker, , 2009; for reviews of the 'gendered organisations' literature, seeBritton, 2000 andBates, 2021). Language and culture support the divisions between the behaviours that are expected from women and men, respectively, to the extent that the divisions are internalised and comprehended as natural(Risman and Davis, 2013). ...
Article
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Deploying the perspective of ‘relational work’, this article investigates the mechanisms behind the gender-unequal distribution of academic service. The concept of relational work is used to analyse how men and women in academia balance collective against individual interests when agreeing or disagreeing on service tasks. Four types of relational work are identified: compliance, evasiveness, barter and investment, with compliance being more common among women, evasiveness and barter being more common among men and investment being tied to temporality in a gendered pattern. The article shows that men are more successful in pursuing individual interests against service demands and how this depends on their relational work as well as organisational role expectations, reducing women’s prospects of ‘saying no’. The study is based on qualitative interviews with 163 associate and full professors in the social sciences and CV data on their service contributions.
... Historically, patriarchal structures privilege men with honor, prestige, authority, and economic capital, while violence is one way the dominant group maintains its status. (Acker, 2009) Violence is a resource mobilized by men in relations of domination and subordination. (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2013;Bourdieu, 2003;Radtke, 1995), As well as a form of affirmation in disputes between hierarchically superior and inferior masculinities, including marginalized ones (Connell, 1995). ...
Article
Studies in Brazil and other Latin American countries have demonstrated how the expansion of illegal drug markets and firearms trafficking over borders has increased the risks for young people, especially those who live in socially vulnerable neighborhoods, of becoming victims of lethal violence. In addressing this scenario, we review some of the most relevant research approaches that seek to understand the involvement of young men in organized crime, the rise of criminal factions or groups and their internationalization process, and the social and institutional mechanisms that contribute to the production and reproduction of lethal violence. Delving both into sociological and anthropological studies in Brazil, as well as other Latin American contributions, we elaborate on the most promising contributions that combine an intersectional approach to the sociological and criminological theories most often employed to understand the involvement of youth with lethal violence in Brazil and the Latin American context.
... Previous research on the gender-job satisfaction paradox has granted more attention to gender equality, and more precisely professional gender equality, than gender ideology. Professional gender equality refers to several aspects, e.g., equality in the access to the labor market (Blossfeld et al., 2015), gender diversity within occupations (K. A. Bender, Donohue, & Heywood, 2005), equality in the access to responsibilities (Acker, 2009), equal pay (A.-F. Bender & Pigeyre, 2016). ...
Article
The gender-job satisfaction paradox, i.e., women reporting higher levels of job satisfaction while facing worse working conditions, has been hotly debated by scholars. This article studies the moderating role of national gender ideology in this paradox. In particular, the focus on Anglo-Saxon countries as well as the lack of attention towards the role of national gender ideology have received criticism. National gender ideology moderates the relationship between gender and job satisfaction: in more egalitarian countries, the gender gap of job satisfaction (to the detriment of women) is more important than in countries with more traditional gender ideologies. These results allow us to discuss expectation theory and the transitory nature of the gender-job satisfaction paradox.
... Regarding promotion, it is also called "glass ceiling". According to Acker (2009), the glass ceiling means a set of obstacles based on subjective, structural and organizational causes that prevent women as a group from advancing to middle and higher management positions leading to larger wage differentials between men and women at the right end of the wage distribution. Petersen and Saporta (2004) also identify valuative discrimination, which is the phenomenon that femaledominated occupations receive lower pay despite having the same skill requirements and other wage-relevant variables. ...
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Purpose The gender pay gap is a well-documented phenomenon in labor economics. Based on the 2018 Structure of Earnings Survey (SES), the authors estimate the impact of observable characteristics on the gender pay gap in Visegrad Group countries and provide policy recommendations on reducing the gender pay gap. Design/methodology/approach The Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition is applied to estimate the values of explained and unexplained parts of the gender pay gap. Gender pay gap in unadjusted as well as adjusted form is estimated using data on the individual level. Findings The results show that unadjusted gender pay gap proved to be stable at more than 20%. The authors found evidence that education widens gender pay gap implying that men have higher returns on education than women. Tertiary education proved to be the highest contributor to widening of gender pay gap. Results also show that there is strong sectoral and occupational segregation. Decomposition proved that only 21% of gender pay gap could be explained by observed characteristics. The unexplained part showed negative values, meaning women would have higher wages, if they had characteristics like men. Research limitations/implications Structure of Earnings Survey data are published every four years; therefore the authors’ dataset from year 2018 might not completely reflect today's reality. Unfortunately, newer data are note available yet. Second, Structure of Earning Survey data do not contain variables representing social factors of respondents like marital status, number of children or labour market absence due to birth or childcare. Third, data used for this study do not contain firms that have less than 10 employees; therefore, considerable portion of the labour market is omitted. Originality/value Results of this study will help policymakers understand the roots and causes of the gender pay gap in Visegrad Group countries but addressing this issue requires further research.
... 7 We argue that a better understanding of leadership development and gender inequality regimes can inform systems-led policy reforms in the country. Acker 8,9 defines workplace inequality regimes as systemic disparities between employees in power who control goals, resources, and outcomes; workplace decisions such as how work is organized; opportunities for interesting work and promotion; employment security and benefits; pay and other financial rewards; respect; and the capacity to enjoy work and a sense of belonging. ...
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India’s National Health Policy (2017)1 and Vision 2035 seek to “[e]stablish a governance framework that is inclusive of political, policy, technical, and managerial leadership at the national and state level.” Yet doctors in India typically become executives based on seniority without formal management training. Moreover, according to February 2022 data, women in India occupied only 18% of healthcare leadership positions. WHO National Health Workforce Account data showed that during 2020 of 1,014,538 medical doctors in India only 14.2% were women. While there are several positive examples in states like Kerala where there are women who are directors of higher institutes, Karan et al. found that 31% of women with technical education in medicine were out of the labor force. Amongst medically trained 30- to 40-year-old women, 20% were not working and most of them were engaged in household work instead. At a senior level, there has only been one woman out of 16 directors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. There are only three women executive directors of the 18 new AIIMS which the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is establishing across India.
... 7 We argue that a better understanding of leadership development and gender inequality regimes can inform systems-led policy reforms in the country. Acker 8,9 defines workplace inequality regimes as systemic disparities between employees in power who control goals, resources, and outcomes; workplace decisions such as how work is organized; opportunities for interesting work and promotion; employment security and benefits; pay and other financial rewards; respect; and the capacity to enjoy work and a sense of belonging. ...
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Evidence suggests that leadership development programmes can significantly enhance medical leadership competency gaps in India. Additionally, diversity, equality, and inclusion improve the standards of care, quality of working lives, community relations, and ability to address health system challenges. We argue that a better understanding of leadership development and gender inequality regimes can inform systems-led policy reforms in the country.
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En France, les politiques de télétravail sont souvent le fruit d’une négociation collective et les accords d’entreprise signés sur le sujet se sont multipliés depuis la pandémie. Cette enquête qualitative réalisée auprès de 18 entreprises permet de saisir l’évolution de la dynamique de négociation sur le télétravail sur la période 2020-2024 et d’interroger la (faible) prise en compte de la dimension égalité professionnelle, dans une perspective féministe sur les relations professionnelles. Cet article identifie trois approches -extensive, restrictive et minimaliste - du télétravail, fortement marquées par le secteur d’activité, et donc le genre et la qualification de la main-d’œuvre. Des impensés et biais sexistes se logent au cœur de la négociation d’entreprise, autant du côté patronal que syndical, la définition implicite des « bonnes pratiques » de télétravail continuant à être androcentrée et socialement située.
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In this modern and sophisticated technological cutting edge era nations are experiencing superior socio-economic progression.Prior importance should be given to the participation of both male and female candidates which can contribute to the development of nation. In Malaysia, women are faced with glass ceiling condition explicitly for their advance career growth, their entrepreneurship, organizational leadership and high ranking position in the academic administrative level. There are many factors of glass ceiling that highlighted by the researcher which are negatively impacts on social and economic affairs in relation with women successful of professional arena.
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The purpose of this article is to provide an insight into the metaphors that are used to explain gender inequality in an organizational context, with a focus on women. Materials and methods. The study used critical metaphor analysis, which uses the methods of cognitive linguistics and critical discourse analysis to study metaphors as cognitive tools that can reveal unconscious and automatic connections between different conceptual systems. Results and discussions. Gender inequality is most often represented by the following metaphors: Glass Ceiling, Sticky Floor, Labyrinth, Glass Cliff, Glass Escalator, Glass Stool, Queen Bee, Mommy Track, Matilda Effect, Scissors Effect, Leaky Pipeline, Vanish Box. The metaphors of gender inequality reflect the various obstacles women face in climbing the career ladder. For example, metaphors are used to describe the existing tendency to prioritize men in leadership appointments in teams with a large majority of women; bias against women in hiring and promotion decisions; the need to balance the demands of a job or workplace with domestic responsibilities; work-family conflict, where women are forced to choose non-linear career paths; discrimination and threats to social identity that women may experience in a male-dominated environment; the existence of sexist bias in the scientific environment when, despite the decline in overt discrimination against women, their achievements are still perceived as less important or valuable than those of men. Conclusion. The main characteristic of gender inequality metaphors is feminization (focus on women’s experience), while understanding gender inequality through the prism of masculinity remains unaddressed. Such parameters of metaphors as the focus on the negative side of inequality (the vulnerability of a social group) suggest that the pragmatic function of metaphors of gender inequality is to encourage action to change the position of women. Such an effect could not have been achieved if the focus had been on the privileges that society provides for the career development of representatives of another social group (men). On the other hand, focusing exclusively on women leads to a situation where the dominant concept of gender inequality is women’s personal problems rather than systemic problems, such as gender culture that is oriented towards men, especially those in positions of power, gender stratification, basic principles and rights at work, and others. Thus, rather than systemic change, the metaphors of gender inequality inspire the implementation of policies aimed at helping or changing the position of women.
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Often at the vanguard of equal employment opportunity (‘EEO’) interventions and movements for equality, it is surprising that universities remain inherently gendered in leadership, with few women making it to senior leadership positions worldwide. While EEO policies have been expressly designed to achieve equality and redress gender imbalances inherent in university structures, it is unclear whether EEO policies practically contribute to this, with an enduring leadership imbalance evidenced globally. To determine the contributions of EEO policies across the international labour market in which universities operate, this case study compares the EEO policies and experiences of ten women university leaders in Australia and Hong Kong. This study finds that more-developed EEO policies correlate with more women in leadership and better experiences of leadership for women within the universities. However, it is clear from a sustained gender imbalance in leadership that EEO policies do not redress gender inequality alone. Limitations of EEO interventions include the narrow focus on aspects of discrimination and inequality and over-reliance on traditional concepts of “merit” and leadership. Grounded within the Asia Pacific region, this case study demonstrates that the contributions of EEO policies to women’s leadership in universities are nuanced.
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Objectives This paper examines the availability of legal provisions, or the lack thereof, that support women to progress equitably into leadership positions within the health workforce in India and Kenya. Methods We adapted the World Bank’s Women, Business and Law framework of legal domains relevant to gender equality in the workplace and applied a ‘law cube’ to analyse the comprehensiveness, accountability and equity and human rights considerations of 27 relevant statutes in India and 11 in Kenya that apply to people in formal employment within the health sector. We assessed those laws against 30 research-validated good practice measures across five legal domains: (1) pay; (2) workplace protections; (3) pensions; (4) care, family life and work–life balance; and (5) reproductive rights. In India, the pension domain and related measures were not assessed because the pension laws do not apply to the public and private sector equally. Results Several legal domains are addressed inadequately or not at all, including pay in India, reproductive rights in Kenya and the care, family life and the work–life balance domain in both countries. Additionally, we found that among the Kenyan laws reviewed, few specify accountability mechanisms, and equity and human rights measures are mainly absent from the laws assessed in both countries. Our findings highlight inadequacies in the legal environments in India and Kenya may contribute to women’s under-representation in leadership in the health sector. The absence of specified accountability mechanisms may impact the effective implementation of legislation, undermining their potential to promote equal opportunities. Conclusions Government action is needed in both countries to ensure that legislation addresses best practice provisions, equity and human rights considerations, and provides for independent review mechanisms to ensure accountability for implementation of existing and future laws. This would contribute to ensuring that legal environments uphold the equality of opportunity necessary for realising gender justice in the workplace for the health workforce. Primary source of funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (INV-031372).
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À partir du cas des artistes visuels contemporains, cet article enrichit notre compréhension des processus sociaux à l’œuvre dans la formation des inégalités de genre dans les professions artistiques, et des moyens de les réduire. Pour ce faire, il explore comment des croyances, des attentes et des pratiques liées au genre contraignent la construction des identités professionnelles des plasticiennes, et leurs conséquences sur l’avancement dans la carrière. La frontière entre artistes amateurs et professionnels n’est pas facile à tracer. Des images stéréotypées de genre imprègnent les croyances relatives au statut de genre, qui désavantagent les artistes femmes tout en bénéficiant aux hommes. Pour les plasticiennes, les difficultés à distinguer les professionnelles des amatrices sont accrues par le fait que la profession reste socialement construite comme masculine et que l’artiste idéal-typique s’inspire d’un modèle masculin. Cependant, plusieurs ressources et tactiques peuvent perturber les effets du cadre de genre sur la construction de l’identité professionnelle des artistes femmes.
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This paper examines the experiences of racialized PhD students in British elite universities. It is framed by Mills' (2007) conception of white ignorance and reflects on the power of whiteness that shapes everyday experiences in such places of privilege. For Mills, the production of racism relies on epistemological processes that produce ignorance, and which promote various ways of ignoring the histories and legacies of European colonialism. Research has shown that professors find it difficult to talk about racism and coloniality within higher education. Professors responses are important as they may affect the outcomes of conducting research for PhD students, yet there is less understanding of how racialized PhD students experience or address white ignorance. Using in‐depth interviews with 14 racialized PhD students, this paper critically examines the intertwined relationship between the coloniality of knowledge and white ignorance within elite universities in the United Kingdom. While universities have been regarded as “neutral” knowledge‐producing institutions, this study challenges the assumptions, interactions, and practices of higher education disciplines in the social sciences, namely anthropology and sociology. Based on the findings of this work, we argue that white ignorance is an epistemic strategy that justifies racial domination within and beyond the halls of academia.
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Este artigo tem como objetivo refletir sobre os desafios da inserção de mulheres na narração esportiva (futebol). Para tal foram realizadas entrevistas com 48 jornalistas mulheres de quatro capitais brasileiras para compreender alguns dos motivos que fazem da cabine de transmissão de eventos esportivos um espaço de reserva masculina. Depreende-se dos depoimentos e percepções destas que o campo do jornalismo e da narração esportiva é marcado por desigualdades de gênero, onde a voz feminina é desvalorizada em oposição a voz masculina entendida como naturalmente ideal para desenvolver essa atividade.
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The gender-job satisfaction paradox, i.e., women reporting higher levels of job satisfaction while facing worse working conditions, has been hotly debated by scholars. This article studies the moderating role of national gender ideology in this paradox. In particular, the focus on Anglo-Saxon countries as well as the lack of attention towards the role of national gender ideology have received criticism. National gender ideology moderates the relationship between gender and job satisfaction: in more egalitarian countries, the gender gap of job satisfaction (to the detriment of women) is more important than in countries with more traditional gender ideologies. These results allow us to discuss expectation theory and the transitory nature of the gender-job satisfaction paradox
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Este livro promove uma discussão sobre o contexto no Brasil e os indicadores que permitem acompanhar a implementação da Plataforma de Ação de Pequim, com o propósito de contribuir para o debate técnico-político sobre o fortalecimento das políticas para as mulheres na gestão pública, a continuidade e a aceleração de investimentos em órgãos especializados de políticas para as mulheres e a transparência para o controle social. Possibilita, ainda, o compartilhamento de dados e informações do Brasil com a comunidade internacional, elevando a qualidade dos diálogos políticos e técnicos no contexto dos esforços empreendidos pelos Estados-membros da ONU para que nenhuma mulher ou menina fique para trás.
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Women shoulder the dual responsibilities of managing their households and professional commitments, which was greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to investigate women's experiences in the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic, utilising a qualitative approach within an exploratory and interpretivist paradigm. The research adopts a case study methodology focusing on women at different levels of seniority at one of South Africa's leading banks. In-depth interviews were conducted with fifteen women using Microsoft Teams. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the collected data, resulting in four themes and thirteen sub-themes. The four themes include i) changes in the working model, ii) organisational support, iii) continued career growth, and iv) work-life conflict. Findings indicate that women in the case organisation perceive the remote working model as advantageous, increasing productivity and improved integration of professional and personal roles. The emergence of work-life conflict was noted as a disadvantage to this new model. Although the case organisation provided some support, there is room for improvement. This study offers valuable insights for the financial services sector regarding women's experiences and areas for improvement. The research contributes to the existing body of knowledge and presents a conceptual model for organisations to support female employees working remotely.
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Diversity, equality, and inclusion in leadership are critical for innovation and Australia's future. Despite considerable changes to the position of women in public life in advanced economies since second wave feminism, the invisibility of women in leadership has persisted. The under-representation of women in senior leadership, including women from culturally diverse backgrounds, remains a major challenge. This chapter presents a qualitative study of succession planning in relation to gender in Australian universities. The author argues for a longer-term focus on diversity, equality, and inclusion in leadership, and non-traditional leadership, in succession planning, to negotiate the glass ceiling and move towards a more equitable future of work in Australian universities. The author discusses prioritising intersectional approaches and practices of inclusion in leadership succession planning and management, to reveal how barriers to career progression in the neoliberal university, for non-traditional leaders can be dismantled and more equitable futures of work can be reimagined.
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Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act made employment discrimination and segregation on the basis of race, ethnicity, or sex illegal in the United States. Previous research based on analyses of aggregate national trends in occupational segregation suggests that sex and race/ethnic employment segregation has declined in the United States since the 1960s. We add to the existing knowledge base by documenting for the first time male-female, black-white, and Hispanic-white segregation trends using private sector workplace data. The general pattern is that segregation declined for all three categorical comparisons between 1966 and 1980, but after 1980 only sex segregation continued to decline markedly. We estimate regression-based decompositions in the time trends for workplace desegregation to determine whether the observed changes represent change in segregation behavior at the level of workplaces or merely changes in the sectoral and regional distribution of workplaces with stable industrial or local labor market practices. These decompositions suggest that, in addition to desegregation caused by changes in the composition of the population of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission monitored private sector firms, there has been real workplace-level desegregation since 1964.
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This article uses a nationally representative data set to determine the role of glass ceiling barriers and cohort effects on the earnings differences between women and men in an elite and growing group of professionals: Scientists and engineers. It draws on national data gathered in four surveys during the 1990s for cohorts graduating between 1955and1990.Results indicate a continuing pay gap net of human capital, family status, and occupational characteristics that was not fully explained by either cohort effects or the glass ceiling. The authors suggest that the gender pay gap in these fields results from several unmeasured barriers that neither worsen across the life cycle nor become less problematic for recent cohorts. Improvements will require continued attention to discriminatory barriers.
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Most previous research on gender inequality and management has been concerned with the question of access to managerial jobs and the "glass ceiling." We offer the first large-scale analysis that turns this question around, asking whether the gender characteristics of managers - specifically, the gender composition and relative status of female managers - affect inequality for the nonmanagerial workers beneath them. Resultsfrom three-level hierarchical linear models, estimated on a unique nested data set drawn from the 2000 Census, suggest that greater representation of women in management does narrow the gender wage gap. Model predictions show, however, that the presence of high-status female managers has a much larger impact on gender wage inequality. We conclude that the promotion of women into management positions may benefit all women, but only if female managers reach relatively high-status positions.
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This review investigates scholarship on the intersection of race and gender, with a particular focus on the U.S. labor market. We ask the following questions: What assumptions underlie intersectional perspectives in sociology? Is there any evidence to demonstrate that race and gender intersect in the labor market? We begin by discussing the core assumptions within Black and multiracial feminist theories, which represent the most fully articulated treatments of "intersectionality." We then broaden our theoretical overview by identifying fundamental differences in the way that sociologists conceptualize intersectionality. We look for evidence of intersectionality in three central domains of research on labor market inequality: (a) wage inequality, (b) discrimination and stereotyping, and (c) immigration and domestic labor. We and that race and gender do intersect in the labor market under certain conditions. Finally, we consider how an intersectional approach enriches labor market research and theorizing about economic inequality.
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Using data from a comparative, multisite ethnography, this paper identifies some of the social and organizational conditions that limited the impact of workplace transformation at four manufacturing plants during the 1990s. Although these plants adopted an array of new work practices, most achieved only limited gains and were generally unable to transcend the traditional boundary between salaried and hourly employees. A key reason lay in the managerial orientation toward production that was brought to bear on the process of workplace change. This orientation, which placed substantial emphasis on scientific and technical rationality, limited the firm's ability to provide an overarching normative or moral framework within which workplace change might unfold, leaving team systems vulnerable to anomic tendencies, to status distinctions among hourly employees, and to other sources of instability. The predominance of a technical, expert-centered orientation toward production also introduced salient contradictions into the new work regimes, pitting a logic of standardization against managerial efforts to cultivate a logic of participation. These findings suggest that successful implementation of workplace change may depend on the ability of corporate executives to demonstrate the very capacity for flexibility that they often demand of their hourly employees.
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We explore a range of issues concerning the gender gap in workplace authority in seven countries (the United Stares, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden, Norway and Japan). There are six main empirical conclusions. First, there is considerable cross-national variation in the gender gap in authority: The gap is lowest in the four English-speaking countries (especially the United States and Australia) and highest in Japan. Second, the gender gap in authority within countries and the pattern of cross-national variation do not appear to be the result of gender differences in personal attributes or employment settings. Third, the self-selection hypothesis (that women choose nor to seek authority because of family responsibilities) does not appear to account for much of the gender gap in authority, except perhaps in Canada. Fourth, we find little support for the ''glass-ceiling'' hypothesis that barriers to upward promotions for women in authority hierarchies are greater than the barriers they face in getting into hierarchies in the first place. Fifth, in the United States the barriers faced by women already in hierarchies are weaker than in other countries, and probably weaker than the barriers they faced to enter hierarchies in the first place. Finally we find suggestive evidence that these variations across countries in the gender gap in authority are explained by the interaction between the availability of managerial positions and the capacity of politically organized women's movements to challenge barriers to women gaining authority in the workplace.
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This chapter surveys sociological approaches to the study of job authority, including theoretical foundations, measurement, and emergence as an important dimension of social inequality. The focus here is mainly on studies of race and gender differences in the determinants of authority and the consequences of race and gender differences in authority for income. Despite significant advancements in the overall socioeconomic status of minorities and working women, race and gender remain important impediments to their attainment of authority. This pattern, which is consistent and robust in state-level, national, cross-national, and cross-temporal studies, is sustained net of an incumbent's human capital investments and structural location within and between several economic units. Following a review of the predominant explanations for gender and racial disparities in job authority is the conclusion that the most promising explanations for persistent racial and gender disparities in authority concern the racial and gender demography of the workplace and the tendency on the part of authority elites to reproduce themselves through both exclusionary and inclusionary processes. Suggestions for future research include additional delineation of these processes based on samples of multiple racial/ethnic groups of men and women and studies that synthesize quantitative and qualitative approaches to understanding the effects of employer and employee attitudes/preferences and practices on the authority attainment process.
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Updated version of her famous essay "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack."
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"Doing Comparable Worth" is the first empirical study of the actual process of attempting to translate into reality the idea of equal pay for work of equal value. This political ethnography documents a large project undertaken by the state of Oregon to evaluate 35,000 jobs of state employees, identify gender-based pay inequities, and remedy these inequities. The book details both the technical and political processes, showing how the technical was always political, how management manipulated and unions resisted wage redistribution, and how initial defeat was turned into partial victory for pay equity by labor union women and women's movement activists. As a member of the legislative task force that was responsible for implementing the legislation requiring a pay equity study in Oregon, Joan Acker gives an insider's view of how job evaluation, job classification, and the formulation of an equity plan were carried out. She reveals many of the political and technical problems in doing comparable worth that are not evident to outsiders. She also places comparable worth within a feminist theoretical perspective. In the series "Women in the Political Economy," edited by Ronnie J. Steinberg.
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In this era of economic progress for women, when women are narrowing the wage gap with men, working more years and more hours per year, and entering previously male-dominated occupations, some argue that women now have all the equality they want-that any remaining differences between women and men in their economic behavior are a matter of personal preferences-some argue that further progress to achieve full equality is proceeding apace and is, indeed, inevitable, and some argue that women still have a long way to go, facing difficult barriers, with the timing or scale of the outcome by no means clear.
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This ethnography examines the gendered nature of today's large corporate law firms. Although increasing numbers of women have become lawyers in the past decade, this book discovers that the double standards and sexist attitudes of legal bureaucracies are a continuing problem for women lawyers and paralegals. Working as a paralegal, ethnographic research was carried out in two law offices, its depiction of the legal world is quite unlike the glamorized version seen on television. The book portrays the dilemma that female attorneys face: A woman using tough, aggressive tactics—the ideal combative litigator—is often regarded as brash or even obnoxious by her male colleagues, yet any lack of toughness would mark her as ineffective. Women paralegals also face a double bind in corporate law firms. While lawyers depend on paralegals for important work, they also expect these women—for most paralegals are women—to nurture them and affirm their superior status in the office hierarchy. Paralegals who mother their bosses experience increasing personal exploitation, while those who do not face criticism and professional sanction. Male paralegals, the book finds, do not encounter the same difficulties that female paralegals do. The book argues that this gendered division of labor benefits men politically, economically, and personally. However, it finds that women lawyers and paralegals develop creative strategies for resisting and disrupting the male-dominated status quo.
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Sociologists' principal contribution to our understanding of ascriptive inequality has been to document race and sex disparities. We have made little headway, however, in explaining these disparities because most research has sought to explain variation across ascriptive groups in more or less desirable outcomes in terms of allocators' motives. This approach has been inconclusive because motive-based theories cannot be empirically tested. Our reliance on individual-level data and the balkanization of research on ascriptive inequality into separate specialties for groups defined by different ascriptive characteristics have contributed to our explanatory stalemate. Explanation requires including mechanisms in our models-the specific processes that link groups' ascribed characteristics to variable outcomes such as earnings. I discuss mechanisms that contribute to variation in ascriptive inequality at four levels of analysis-intrapsychic, interpersonal, societal, and organizational. Redirecting our attention from motives to mechanisms is essential for understanding inequality and-equally important-for contributing meaningfully to social policies that will promote social equality.
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Organizational theory and research has neglected analyses of sex differences in organizational behavior. When sex differences have been noted, they have been explained in terms of differences in biology, socialization, attitudes, and role commitment. On the basis of a reexamination of the Hawthorne studies and Crozier's work on two French bureaucracies, this paper suggests that sex differences may also be due to more structural factors such as differential recruitment and sex-linked control mechanisms. On that basis, the paper suggests a reinterpretation of the findings from those studies. The sex structuring of organizations needs to be taken into account along with organizational factors to arrive at fuller explanations of organizational phenomena.
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To highlight the struggle of black and white women to forge new relationships with each other and with their male colleagues we have excerpted poignant segments of this recently published book. Based on groundbreaking research that spanned eight years, the book compares and contrasts the experiences of black and white women who are managers in American business.
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Is the gender gap in pay constant across all jobs, or does the gender composition of the Job affect male advantage? Using data from the NLSY and a finely detailed measure of the gender composition of jobs, I investigate gender differences in wages and in wage growth. I show how they differ between,female-dominated, male-dominated, and balanced jobs. Predictions from Kanters theory of tokenism and the Williams and Acker theory of gendered organizations are tested. Findings indicate that men are advantaged, net of controls, in both pay levels and wage growth in all jobs, regardless of gender composition. Contrary to predictions generated from Kanters tokenism theory, men do not suffer when the, v arc tokens, in terms of pay. Not only arc predictions from Kanter's theory untrue for male tokens, they, also do not hold for female tokens when it comes to wages. Rather, consistent with the Williams and Acker theory of gendered organizations, men arc no more-and no less-advantaged when women are tokens; in terms of earnings, men arc uniformly advantaged in male-dominated, female-dominated, and balanced jobs. Analyses of promotions data indicate that men are also not additionally advantaged whether they are the numerically dominant or minority gender, in fact, male advantage in promotions is the smallest when men are tokens.
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The article focuses on the temporal and epistemic economy connected to the transatlantic travels of the categorical triad of ‘race-class-gender’. It looks at conditions and forces that have fuelled the dynamics of the discourse on differences and inequality among women and analyses feminist discourse and its aporias as a particular environment for the travels of theories. Furthermore, it follows the changes the triad of ‘race-class-gender’ undergoes on its transatlantic route from the United States to a German-speaking context and it outlines the theoretical challenges connected to an intersectional perspective that aims to overcome a theoretical stagnation that itself finds symptomatic expression in the ritual citing of ‘race-class-gender’.
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Little empirical study has been devoted to the impact of employer-sponsored work-family policies on women’s wages. These policies include flexible scheduling, telecommuting, reduced hours of work, and child care assistance. Although these work innovations may make family caregiving easier, many women fear that lower wage growth and blocked mobility will result from the use of these policies. This project followed a midwestern cohort of employed women for 7 years after childbirth, using detailed information about coverage and use of family responsive policies across all jobs held during that period. Results show consistent negative effects of policy use on wage growth after controlling for many productivity-related characteristics, though the effects vary in size depending on the specific policy used, workers’ job mobility, and the respondent’s managerial or professional status.
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The gender-based wage gap in Swedish banks began to increase in 1983 after many years of decline. The growth in the gap between the wages of nonmanagerial women and men employees was particularly high. This article asks, How did this happen? Wage setting, part of the processes of control in capitalist economies, is accomplished through concrete practices under specific historical conditions. The author studied these practices and conditions to understand the increasing wage gap. Through interviews and examination of union and management documents, the author constructs an account of a wage-setting process that, in spite of a strong union and centralized bargaining, allows management to make discretionary wage decisions that favor raises for men over raises for women. Since 1983, competition and deregulation in the banking sector as well as union strategies have created conditions in which an increasing proportion of annual wage increases have been distributed on a discretionary basis. This has led to an increase in the wage gap. The author concludes that policies to raise women's relative wages should pursue general, across-the-board bargaining rather than individualized wage setting.
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How can we explain the persistence of gender hierarchy over transformations in its socioeconomic base? Part of the answer lies in the mediation of gender inequality by taken-for-granted interactional processes that rewrite inequality into new institutional arrangements. The problems of interacting cause actors to automatically sex-categorize others and, thus, to cue gender stereotypes that have various effects on interactional outcomes, usually by modifying the performance of other, more salient identities. Because changes in the status dimension of gender stereotypes lag behind changes in resource inequalities, interactional status processes can reestablish gender inequalities in new structural forms. Interactional sex categorization also biases the choice of comparison others, causing men and women to judge differently the rewards available to them. Operating in workplace relations, these processes conserve inequality by driving the gender-labeling of jobs, constructing people as gender-interested actors, contributing to employers' discriminatory preferences, and mediating men's and women's perceptions of alternatives and their willingness to settle for given job outcomes.
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In spite of feminist recognition that hierarchical organizations are an important location of male dominance, most feminists writing about organizations assume that organizational structure is gender neutral. This article argues that organizational structure is not gender neutral; on the contrary, assumptions about gender underlie the documents and contracts used to construct organizations and to provide the commonsense ground for theorizing about them. Their gendered nature is partly masked through obscuring the embodied nature of work. Abstract jobs and hierarchies, common concepts in organizational thinking, assume a disembodies and universal worker. This worker is actually a man; men's bodies, sexuality, and relationships to procreation and paid work are subsumed in the image of the worker. Images of men's bodies and masculinity pervade organizational processes, marginalizing women and contributing to the maintenance of gender segregation in organizations. The positing of gender-neutral and disembodied organizational structures and work relations is part of the larger strategy of control in industrial capitalist societies, which, at least partly, are built upon a deeply embedded substructure of gender difference.
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In this paper, I provide an ethnographic account of how an organization's control system evolved in response to a managerial change from hierarchical, bureaucratic control to concertive control in the form of self-managing teams. The study investigates how the organization's members developed a system of value-based normative rules that controlled their actions more powerfully and completely than the former system. I describe the organization and its members and provide a detailed account of the dynamics that emerged as concertive control became manifest through the members' interactions. This account depicts how concertive control evolved from the value consensus of the company's team workers to a system of normative rules that became increasingly rationalized. Contrary to some proponents of such systems, concertive control did not free these workers from Weber's iron cage of rational control. Instead, the concertive system, as it became manifest in this case, appeared to draw the iron cage tighter and to constrain the organization's members more powerfully.
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This paper addresses men's underrepresentation in four predominantly female professions: nursing, elementary school teaching, librarianship, and social work. Specifically, it examines the degree to which discrimination disadvantages men in hiring and promotion decisions, the work place culture, and in interactions with clients. In-depth interviews were conducted with 99 men and women in these professions in four major U.S. cities. The interview data suggest that men do not face discrimination in these occupations; however, they do encounter prejudice from individuals outside their professions. In contrast to the experience of women who enter male-dominated professions, men generally encounter structural advantages in these occupations which tend to enhance their careers. Because men face different barriers to integrating nontraditional occupations than women face, the need for different remedies to dismantle segregation in predominantly female jobs is emphasized.
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In this article, the author addresses two feminist issues: first, how to conceptualize intersectionality, the mutual reproduction of class, gender, and racial relations of inequality, and second, how to identify barriers to creating equality in work organizations. She develops one answer to both issues, suggesting the idea of “inequality regimes” as an analytic approach to understanding the creation of inequalities in work organizations. Inequality regimes are the interlocked practices and processes that result in continuing inequalities in all work organizations. Work organizations are critical locations for the investigation of the continuous creation of complex inequalities because much societal inequality originates in such organizations. Work organizations are also the target for many attempts to alter patterns of inequality: The study of change efforts and the oppositions they engender are often opportunities to observe frequently invisible aspects of the reproduction of inequalities. The concept of inequality regimes may be useful in analyzing organizational change projects to better understand why these projects so often fail and why they succeed when this occurs.
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Building on Coleman and Rippin's analysis of how the methodological approach we took in this project made it difficult for us to keep gender equity a primary goal of our organizational change efforts, we reflect on how our conceptual approach to gender, described in the Meyerson and Kolb paper, exacerbated this problem. We explore the consequences of losing the gender focus of our work for our ability to make meaningful change in organizations. Finally, we describe how we have developed our approach to organizational change so as to maintain our focus on gender as a basis of our critique and gender equity as an objective of our intervention.
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We examine the effects of organizations' employment practices on sex-based ascription in managerial jobs. Given men's initial preponderance in management, we argue that inertia, sex labels, and power dynamics predispose organizations to use sex-based ascription when staffing managerial jobs, but that personnel practices can invite or curtail ascription. Our results-based on data from a national probability sample of 516 work organizations-show that specific personnel practices affect the sexual division of managerial labor. Net of controls for the composition of the labor supply, open recruitment methods are associated with women holding a greater share of management jobs, while recruitment through informal networks increases men's share. Formalizing personnel practices reduces men's share of management jobs, especially in large establishments, presumably because formalization checks ascription in job assignments, evaluation, and factors that affect attrition. Thus, through their personnel practices, establishments license or limit ascription.
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A growing body of social science literature has examined the organizational innovations and staffing practices comprising new flexible forms of work. Researchers have investigated the depth and scope of these changes and questioned how they affect diverse groups of workers in the United States. Reviewing the research on this transformation reveals a model of combined and uneven flexibility, characterized by the opening of opportunities that are differentially distributed across different groups of American workers, emerging under conditions in which effort is intensified, control is decentered, and employment is destabilized. The essay concludes by suggesting additional areas of inquiry for sociologists concerned with new forms of work organization.