Celebrating Joan Acker's contribution to theorising gender and organisation

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this editorial is to present a series of articles in this special invited issue that celebrate Joan Acker's theories of gendered organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

This editorial presents articles that utilise Joan Acker's notions of gendered organisations, the gender subtext in organisations, the ideal worker, and inequality regimes to help explain gender discrimination in organisation. It is a celebration of Joan's theorising in relation to this topic and also includes Joan's own thinking about the development of her ideas as theorised by the authors in different organisational and empirical contexts.

Findings

The paper reveals that the articles illustrate the value of Acker's original thinking, how the original concepts have evolved to theorise and explain the intersectionality of current discriminatory practices.

Originality/value

This paper presents a celebration of Joan Acker's work and an introduction to the special issue.

Citation

Sayce, S. (2012), "Celebrating Joan Acker's contribution to theorising gender and organisation", Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 205-207. https://doi.org/10.1108/02610151211209144