Gender as scientific perspective

Ulla Eriksson-Zetterquist

Content

• Concept content• Scientific approaches• Example: Men working

with gender equality in top positions

• Example: Butler• Summary

Gender

• Multifaceted/multidimensional• Encompassing symbols, cultures, practices,

identities and structures• Biased• Commonsensical understandings

Gender permeates everyday realitiesIt concerns everybody

Rather than as a property of individuals, we conceive of gender as an emergent feature of social situations: both as an outcome of and a rationale for various social arrangements and as means of legitimating one of the most fundamental divisions of society (West & Zimmerman, 1987:126).

The Study: Theoretical premise 1”Doing gender”

Scientific perspectives - gender

• Structuralist– Men and women– Numbers/variables

• Standpoint feminism– Women (men) are

essentially different

• Social constructionism– Doing gender, doing

ethniciy

• 1. quantitative• 2.

Qualitative/quantitative

Structuralist perspective

Some statistics regarding men and women in management:

Women and men in management within the EU:• Women managers

• Sweden: 31%• Ireland and France: 35%• UK 34%

• 1,3 percent of all men in employment have a top management position, while 0,4 percent of women in employment have a similar position.

Sweden:• Since 1990s, more women then

men have a university degree• In the 20-64 age group, 79% of

women and 84% of men are gainfully employed

• Private industry: – women constitute 37% of its

employees and 19% of its managers.

• Public administration (central and local level): – women constitute about 80% of

employees and 56% of its managers

47 per cent women in parliament…

Manliga ledamöter

Kvinnliga ledamöter

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

1971 1974 1976 1979 1982 1985 1991 1994 1998 2002 2006

Male MP’s

Female MP’s

(Statistics Sweden 2006)

…but three managers in four are men

Private sector, women

Public sector, women

Public sector, men

Private sector, men

(Statistics Sweden 2006)

…and men control business

(Statistics Sweden 2006)

Board members in listed companies

Men 82 %

Women18 %

CEO:s in listed companies

Women1,7 %

Men 98,3 %

– Were the employees really exhausted?– Were the rest breaks worthwhile, or was the productivity

higher with a shorter workday?– How did the employees feel about their work and the

company?– What effect did the change in the work tools have?– Why did productivity decline in the afternoon?

Part 1: the Relay Assembly Room

• In order to obtain reactions from the women that would be as normal as possible

• requirement: work experience and were interested in participating in the experiment.

• The six women, five assemblers and an assembly supplier, shared the work and had certain supervisory responsibilities.

• Observer: recorded that the women felt more comfortable talking in this room compared to how they felt in their usual workplace.

– a spontaneous, social arrangement that functioned in parallel with the formal organization of the company?

– The employees also seemed to form social groups that had very strong controls over how their members worked. The foremen could not interfere with these groups because of the risk of being disliked. Furthermore, there were informal leaders who made each group’s external contacts with the foremen, the engineers and the inspectors. These leaders even taught new hires the acceptable norms at the factory.

– it became important to study these small groups

Part 3: The Bank Wiring Observation Room

• You should not turn out too much work. If you do, you are a “ratebuster”.

• You should not turn out too little work. If you do, you are a “chieseler”.

• You should not tell a supervisor anything that will react to the detriment of an associate. If you do, you are a “squealer”.

• You should not attempt to maintain social distance or act officious. If you are an inspector, for example, you should not act like one. (Roethlisberger and Dickson, 1939: 522).

Special rules

• two organizations that functioned in parallel, the formal and the informal (Roethlisberger and Dickson, 1939).

• Question of the assumption that the employees were primarily motivated by economic interests, where their work behaviour was logical and rational

Results

Results

• The Hawthorne Effect means that when employees are selected and treated as special, productivity increases. A contributing factor is benevolent management and humane treatment of employees.

• Informal groups influence the norms that relate to productivity.• Methodological research contributions were in many respects

regenerated. Researchers posed new questions and sought new methods of researching and interpreting what they had not understood.

• The perception of the study’s methodology was that it was certainly unorthodox, a perception that later was both praised and criticised.

Kanter

• Work makes the person• If women really were different, then they would

humanize society when they became leaders in companies

• But, the problem is: as entities are organized in the same way it does not matter if women assume men’s leadership roles because, in such an exhange, one dominant group has simply been substituted for another.

Kanter: three structures

• The opportunity structure• Good opportunities for promotion: attitudes conducive to

advancement, high career goals, work actively to achieve these• Little potential: lose interest, personal relationships, free time

activities

• The power structure• The possibility to do things, to mobilize resources and to acquire

and use whatever means are necessary to reach goals

• The frequency structure• Token: the representative of a group of people, seen as symbol

rather than as an individual person• Visibility, contrast, assimiliation

Kanter: homosocial reproduction

• Homosexual reproduction: practices that exclude women from mangerial posts

• Homosocial reproduction: processes by which certain managers and men are selected and differentiated according to their ability to display appropriation social credentials– Perceived to be more reliable, committed, predictable,

free from conflicting loyalties between home and work• A reflection of the ineherent and pervasive

uncertainty in the nature of management

From standpoint feminism to social construction

• ”Men” /”women” as unified groups and undifferentiated categories

• Connell: categorical theories about patriarchy neglects differences and relations that can shift over time and place– i.e. structural analyses of gender relations caricature men’s

power and women’s subordination– Ignore the analytical significance of the organizational practices

through which these categories are constituted• Post-structuralist feminism: recognized men’s and

women’s diverse, fragmented, contradictory organizational lives

Masculinity and leadership

• Most managers are men, in most organizations, in most countries

• Why this association of men and management• In both theory and practice?• In autobiographies: • Entrepreneurial male managers/owners (Ford, Iacooca,

Maxwell)• Reveal an evangelical, personal and lifelong preoccupation with

military-like efficiency, ruthless practices, autocratic control• How managerial search for efficiency become an all-engulfing

obsession

Masculinity in management theory

• Focusing men but no masculinity– Prescriptive ideal (scientific management,

Barnard, Simon, 1945)– Descriptive accounts (Mintzberg, 1973)– Critical accounts (managerial power in broader

social, economic and political conditions) (Willmot, 1987)

• Why, when we think manager, do we still tend to think male? (Schein, 1976)

In organizations

• Organizational/occupational strucutres, processes, practices may be viewed as culturally masculine

Masculinity as concept II

• Men, masculinities (women, femininities) not homogenous, unified or fixed, but diverse, differentiated, shifting

• Hereby masculinities rather than masculinity• Differences and competing divisions according to

age, class, ethnicity, religion, bodily facility, sexuality, world view, region, nationality, apperance, paternal/marital kinshop status, leisure, occupation and career, sice, propensity for violence

Masculinity as concept III• Hegemonic masculinities

– White, heterosexual, middle class

– On behalf of black, gay, working class

– White male-dominated shopfloor masculinities can be subordinated with regard to class and hierarchy

– White, gay masculinities or black, middle-class masculinities can carry internal contradictions, undermining power and identity

Masculinity as concept IV

• Values, experiences, meanings that are culturally interpreted as masculine and typically feel ’natural’ to or are ascribed men more than women in a particular cultural context

• Multiple masculinities

Masculinity features

• Hard, dry, impersonal, objective, explicit, outer-focused, action-oriented, analytic, dualistic, quantitative, linear, rationalist, reductionist, materialist

• Self-assertion, separation, independence, control, competition, focused perception, rationality, analysis

Anthithesis: Femininity features

• Interdependence, cooperation, receptivity, merging, acceptance, awareness of patterns, wholes and contexts, emotional tone, personalistic perception, being, intuition, synthesizing,

• Nurturance, compassion, sensitivity, empathy

Problems

• Do the concepts reflect social reality in some way?• Or are they used for analytical purposes by the

researchers?• Are they open to empirical impressions• Or in the hands of the researcher to define and use

accordingly• Valid across culture and history?• Or do they reflect contemporary Western society, • or only contemporary gender researchers’ ideas on

what is masculine and feminine?

Problems

• Are masculinity and femininity tightly connected to men and women?

• Or can they be used to illuminate non-humans as artefacts and techniques?

To researchers

• ”The researcher must be clear about the use of the concept analytically and with little or no grounding in the cultural meanings of the natives.”

• ”A basic problem is that the terms easily incorporate commonsensical notions held by the researcher, who may be as strong a victim of prejudices as other natives.”

• She or he can simply read in masculinity whenever she or he feels like it.

– (Alvesson and Billing, 1997: 86)

Example masculinity a workplace

• Men in management• Accounting, engineering, strategic functions• Represent ”hegemonic masculinities”

– Unchallenged by trade unions– Comparatively high salaries, remuneration packages

through secretarial support, share options, company cars, pensions, extensive holiday entitlements

• Size and position of personal offices, official furniture, display of pictures, paintings, plants, computers, clothing

Example W2T

• Men working with gender equality in top positions

Sweden: an ambition to become a equal opportunity model

• European Commission sponsored the project W2T,

• aimed at “challenging the imbalance between men and women in top management positions in Europe”.

• In Sweden, 15 large and influential corporations and public administration organizations were involved in the project.

• Other participating countries: Estonia, Greece, Denmark

The study

• An evaluation of a project aiming at increasing Women to the Top (W2T)

• Observation: an introductory seminar with 115 representatives of Swedish businesses

• Event: a very influential business representative reveals a complete ignorance regarding the relationship between gender and management.

• Analysis: shows variation in understanding how management and gender/parenthood is co-constructed.

Evaluators Method

• Ethnographically inspired evaluation• Data: 19 Interviews, 65 hours of participant

observation, document collection, e-mail letters, surveys

W2T Participants

1. The European Union CommissionSwedish Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications

2. The Equal Opportunities Ombudsman Julie Andersson, with Assistant, Annie

3. CEO of participating organizations4. Person from executive management supporting a

candidate from another participating organization5. The executive management represented by Human

Resource Manager or similar person from each organization

6. Female managers who had already advanced in their careers and were interested in reaching executive management group

W2T project: roles and functions1. Head Sponsor2. Supporter and financer3. Managing organization 4. Project Managers5. Corporations and public organizations involved6. Responsible in each participating organization7. MentorProject leaders8. Top Management Candidates 9. (TMCs):Leadership consultants10. Recruitment firms11. HomepageSteering group

Material

• From Seminar 1 with CEOs, project leaders, TMCs and mentors

• Setting

Project leader, M, opens the seminar

W2T is a project which aims to elaborate tools and action plans in order to create changes in the long term regarding the gender representation in organizations top management positions. Many organizations have already made a great deal concerning these issues and thus there is much we can learn from each other. Our plan is that part of this learning can be reached by establishing networks among the participants in this project.

M continues…

Bottom line, it is about gender equality and attitudes. I usually say that gender equality can be compared to a minefield since it affects the emotions of everyone participating. By getting new insights, something that builds upon emotion and knowledge, these issues can be changed. To start with, everyone can start with thinking of what they feel about gender equality. All of us have some personal experience to relate to.

M continuesToday we have hundred and fifteen participants from 20 different organizations here. My

own personal experience starts with my upbringing in Norway. My parents raised me to believe that girls and boys could do the same things. When I worked as personnel manager in the public sector, I learned that the work with gender equality could be related to the work of individual wage standards. After that I began as a personnel manager in the private sector where I realised that these issues were actually about profitability. There I also saw the problems with same-sex working groups. Research has shown that gender mixed teams are more creative and more innovative. Research has also shown that companies with high representation of women in top management positions have better profitability both in the long and short run. This has also turned out in the preliminary work done in the networks of this project. One public sector organization reported that women in the top management make the managerial work more efficient. A private organization reported in the same manner that women and men working together lead to better decisions – covering more aspects – and also have more fun in managerial work.

Next speaker: manager N

He [my boss] said: "Think about this for a week". On Friday of the same week, he called me and said "You do not have to reply today about the job I offered you. You still have the weekend to decide. But you must know that if you say no, I will have to recruit someone frm the outside, and you will have to teach this person, because you know the ropes. And please, do not come to me six months from now and say that your current work is boring. But if you say ‘yes’ to this position, I will give you all support you need".

N continues:

N accepted the position after the weekend. Here is how the narrative ended: "Sometimes you come to the crossroads. I believe I am an

ordinary kind of person. A program like W2T can serve as a crossroad; a conscientious manager can serve as another. This question cannot be solved with a quick fix, however; it needs long-ranging, sustainable work. My company has been working with these issues for ten years, and we still have a lot to do. "

Influential business representative: O

• It is nice to be here. This situation can easily create impatience. Yet we need patience. In changing work, it is easy to be led astray by the fast changes, but they seldom provide us with results in the long run. Attitudes indicate that we have a long way to go. For me, gender equality occurs when a qualified woman has the same opportunities as a qualified

man. We cannot afford to dispense with existing competence.

• I admire those women who dare to take the step to stay at

home with their children for some years. There are great similarities in bringing up children and in taking care of the co-workers as a leader. Women ought to double these years in their CV:s because they tell about their profound experience of leadership. I was in the USA at the beginning of this week and read about a 43-year old woman who was a promising manager within Pepsi when she had her first child. She chose to leave her career in order to stay home. During the next seven years, she stayed in contact with the company. Today, she is the CEO for Sarah Lee. Showed endurance and made that decision. It feels good that a company could see this.

…• Our goal is that 20 per cent of our leading positions should be

held by women. We have to start from the scratch, recruiting more women, in order to change the numbers higher up in the organization.

How can this be understood?

• Your interpretation• Your interpretation given the Swedish context

A gender researcher at the seminar

In these kinds of issues it is important to stay to the matter of fact and to be analytical. It is not enough to be an enthusiast. The purpose of today is – with support of theories – provide the participants with tools for their work.

• Many feel guilt in respect to these issues, but when gender is related to the structural levels instead of the personal levels, the guilt aspect disappears. It is important to see the structures instead of the personal issues, to think organizational level instead of believing that this is about personal experiences. Looking at the structures, it is easy to feel powerless. The question is how one can continue the work, and what can be done about it.

A gender researcher commenting O's story of Sarah Lee's CEO during a lunch break…

What's so new about parental leave? Probably every woman in the audience has taken it; they stayed home with their children for a couple of years and then continued with their career. And what happened after the first year with that newborn child if this woman was so successful in combining career and family life? Speaking of which, does he not know that fathers can take a parental leave as well? All this says much more about him and others like him than about women in managerial positions!

Differences in gender awareness

• The official voice• Supported by research results• Project leader, researchers

• The woman manager's voice• Personal • Emphasising the role of conscientious boss

• The man manager's voice• Revealing the privileged perspective of a CEO• Motherhood and USA as models

U E-Z's reconstruction of Adam's voice: ”Amanda”

• It is not so nice to be here. This situation goes on for too long now. We need to be impatient. In business companies, it is easy to delay changes by promising that they will appear in the long run, but they seldom happen, and besides, in the long run we will all be dead. Attitudes indicate that we have a long road ahead. For me, gender equality occurs when a qualified man has the same opportunities as a qualified woman. We can not afford not to acquire the competence that remains beyond our reach because of the continuing inequality.

• I admire those men who dare to take the step to stay at home

with their children for some years. There are great similarities in managing a household and a company. Men ought to double these years in their resumés because they tell about their profound experience of management. I was in Gothenburg at the beginning of this week and read about a 43-year old man who was a promising manager within Volvo when he had his first child. He chose to leave his career in order to stay home. During the next seven years, he stayed in contact with the company. Today, he is the head of the unions in Volvo. Showed endurance and made that decision. It feels good that his co-workers could see this.

Conclusions I• "Researchers" see gender inequality as a result of

organizational conditions, but also perceive "Adam" as simply ignorant

• "Maria" reports personal circumstances, but is able to infer from it a more general principle

• "Adam" reveals superficiality of his understanding of these issues, and lacks interest in the women's point of view: he knows how t resolve the problem

Conclusions II

• Participants reactions to the seminar: they claimed to have reached a deeper understanding of gender & work issues

• My hypothesis: a major step towards gender equality could be made by equipping the influential CEOs with a nuanced understanding of the problematic of gender and management.

• individual’s gender, ethnicity, age, personal history, education, personality, life style, sexual preferences, geographic origins and organizational position, as well as the company’s history and operations

• Criticism: – what happens to people with different experiences

and different backgrounds who are no longer viewed as contributing to the company’s profitable operations—will they be dismissed?

Diversity

Ulla Eriksson-Zetterquist, GRI, Handelshögskolan

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Intersectionality

Gender

Age

Ethnicity

Sexuality

Example intersectionality• 2: It is absolutely the case that one is

not a muslim on Tuesday and a european on Wednesday, a woman on Monday, black on Sunday and lesbian on Thursday afternoon. These variables coexist in time. They also intersect, coincide or clash; they are seldom synchronized. The point is that one’s consciousness of oneself does not always coincide with all variables all the time. One may, for a period of time, coincide with some of the categories, but seldom with them all. (Braidotti, 2006:94)

Ulla Eriksson-Zetterquist, GRI, Handelshögskolan

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Ulla Eriksson-Zetterquist, GRI, Handelshögskolan

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3: Southern California high-tech firm

• At the top of the typical Southern California high-tech firm stands the rational, aggressive, controlling white man (occasionally a woman but one who has learned how to operate in the class/gender structure), while at the very bottom there are often women of color working on a production line where they have little control over any aspect of their working lives. (Acker, 1992:251)

Butler

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0HZaPkF6qE

Summary