Duelling Discourses at Work: Upsetting the Gender Order^☆

Abstract

Findings of an extensive archival study of Pan American Airways (PAA) strongly support Acker’s (1990) notion of the presence and importance of a dominant discourse of organizing logic in structuring a gendered order. Findings also demonstrate that the presence of alternative, but not necessarily feminist, discourses can serve to upset the gender order of organizations. Thus, we conclude that changing the organization’s gender substructure (Acker, 1992b) by changing the dominant discourse or introducing competing discourses may help to destabilize “truths” and interrupt the perpetuation and reification of policies, practices, and understandings that are often taken-for-granted despite their ability to silence voices and privilege some groups over others.

Citation

Dye, K. and Mills, A.J. (2017), "Duelling Discourses at Work: Upsetting the Gender Order^☆", Mills, A.J. (Ed.) Insights and Research on the Study of Gender and Intersectionality in International Airline Cultures, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 305-328. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78714-545-020171017