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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 6 March 2017

Christina Scholten and Hope Witmer

This paper aims to reveal gendered leadership constructs that hinder a competency-based view of leadership in Swedish-based global companies and the implications for leadership…

6046

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to reveal gendered leadership constructs that hinder a competency-based view of leadership in Swedish-based global companies and the implications for leadership recruitment and development to top management positions.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews, which have been analyzed using a gender analytic framework to identify how senior management, Human resource management and leadership trainees are discussing leadership and career development.

Findings

Three themes were identified as clouding the issue of gender-equal leadership practices thereby creating an opaque gendered lens of who is defined as eligible for leadership positions. The three themes were: symbols as gendered images, counting heads – preserving the existing system and illusive gender inclusion.

Research limitations/implications

Recruitment practices were identified as contributors to homosocial practices that perpetuate male-dominated leadership representation. However, specific recruitment practices were not fully explored.

Practical implications

The potential use of gender equality as a sustainable management practice for competitive organizations to recruit and develop talented people.

Social implications

To create resilient and gender-equal recruitment and leadership development practices.

Originality/value

This research offers an original perspective on gender representation at the senior management level in global companies by revealing gendered leadership constructs in the leadership recruitment and development process as antecedents to unequal gender representation in senior management positions.

Details

Gender in Management: An International Journal, vol. 32 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2413

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 24 May 2022

Eva Bermúdez-Figueroa and Beltrán Roca

This paper aims to describe and explain women's labor participation in the public sector, particularly at the local level. The paper analyses the representation of women employees…

2057

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to describe and explain women's labor participation in the public sector, particularly at the local level. The paper analyses the representation of women employees in the public sector through a case study of a city council in a mid-sized Spanish city. The authors delve into the extent of gender labor discrimination in public administration, exploring a diversity of situations, experiences, and perceptions of women workers in female, neutral, and male-dominated areas in the local administration.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors have applied a combined methodology of quantitative analysis based on an exhaustive analysis of the list of job posts, and qualitative analysis from the narratives of women workers in biographical interviews, in women-dominated, neutral and male-dominated areas.

Findings

The authors conclude by providing a clear description of women's representation in local administration. Despite the institutional efforts in applying gender equality norms and public policies in administration, employment and labor market, this article shows the persistent inequality in employment within the administration. The paper demonstrates that public administrations can be seen as gender regimes that tend to reproduce inequality by formal and informal dynamics. This inequality gender reproduction in a supposedly gender-neutral administration reflects discrimination in a labor market. The paper details phenomena relating to horizontal occupational segregation, glass ceilings, sticky floors, and the undervaluing of women's work, among other phenomena.

Practical implications

The administration should consider two essential factors that endanger gender equality: (1) the demonstrated regression of gender mainstreaming and the effects on women's employment as a consequence of the crisis, and (2) neoliberal governments and extreme right-wing parties (or neoliberal governments and extreme right-wing parties' support, as is the case with the current Andalusian regional government), whose agenda includes the fight against what neoliberal governments and extreme right-wing parties call “gender ideology”.

Social implications

The gap between the effectiveness of gender legislation and actual working practices within the administration has been highlighted. This fact should be a wake-up call for the administrations to strictly comply with gender legislation, given that local administrations are the closest to the citizens. Future research should focus on changes to detect any regression and to prevent losing the improvements already achieved, which can still be very much strengthened.

Originality/value

This article helps to fill the gap in the literature on gender discrimination in the labor market, which often omits the public sector, especially in local administration, which is the closest administrative structure to citizenship respecting public policies. The article contributes to highlighting the need for an egalitarian labor market in order to achieve optimal performance, commitment and efficiency in egalitarian labor relations in local administration.

Details

Employee Relations: The International Journal, vol. 44 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 9 July 2020

Jody Heymann, Bijetri Bose, Willetta Waisath, Amy Raub and Michael McCormack

There is substantial evidence of discrimination at work across countries and powerful evidence that antidiscrimination laws can make a difference. This study examines the extent…

3163

Abstract

Purpose

There is substantial evidence of discrimination at work across countries and powerful evidence that antidiscrimination laws can make a difference. This study examines the extent of protections from discrimination at work in countries around the world and which groups were best covered.

Design/methodology/approach

This study assesses legal protections in hiring, pay, promotions/demotions, terminations and harassment for 13 different groups across 193 countries using a database the authors created based on analysis of labor codes, antidiscrimination legislation, equal opportunity legislation and penal codes. Differences in levels of protection were examined across social groups and areas of work, as well as by country income level using Chi-square tests.

Findings

Protection from gender and racial/ethnic discrimination at work was the most common, and protection across migrant status, foreign national origin, sexual orientation and gender identity was among the least. For all groups, discrimination was more often prohibited in hiring than in promotion/demotion. There was inconsistent protection from harassment and retaliation.

Research limitations/implications

Addressing discrimination at work will require a broad range of synergistic approaches including guaranteeing equal legal rights, implementation and enforcement of laws and norm change. This study highlights where legislative progress has been made and where major gaps remain.

Originality/value

This article presents findings from an original database containing the first data on laws to prevent discrimination in the workplace in all 193 countries around the world. The study analyzes legal protections for a wide range of groups and considers a full range of workplace protections.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 40 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Open Access
Book part
Publication date: 4 June 2021

Seonaid Stevenson-McCabe and Sarai Chisala-Tempelhoff

Technology-facilitated violence and abuse including image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) is a phenomenon affecting women and girls around the world. Abusers misuse technology to attack…

Abstract

Technology-facilitated violence and abuse including image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) is a phenomenon affecting women and girls around the world. Abusers misuse technology to attack victims and threaten their safety, privacy, and dignity. This abuse is gendered and a form of domestic and sexual violence. In this article, the authors compare criminal law approaches to tackling IBSA in Scotland and Malawi. We critically analyze the legislative landscape in both countries, with a view to assessing the potential for victims to seek and obtain redress for IBSA. We assess the role criminal law has to play in each jurisdiction while acknowledging the limits of criminal law alone in terms of providing redress.

Details

The Emerald International Handbook of Technology-Facilitated Violence and Abuse
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-849-2

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 8 January 2021

Gladys Merma-Molina, María Alejandra Ávalos-Ramos and María Ángeles Martínez Ruiz

The aims of this study are to identify and analyse prevalent gender roles and the persistence of sexist stereotypes among teachers in training in Spain, to determine the reasons…

4946

Abstract

Purpose

The aims of this study are to identify and analyse prevalent gender roles and the persistence of sexist stereotypes among teachers in training in Spain, to determine the reasons for them and suggest solutions for eradicating sexist prejudices.

Design/methodology/approach

A gender role questionnaire was administered to 1260 workers from 54 different professions who were enrolled on a postgraduate training course to qualify as secondary education teachers. The instrument contained six variables for both quantitative and qualitative analysis: professional work, family (looking after children), feelings and emotions, household chores, body image and free time.

Findings

Household chores, looking after children and gender roles linked to body image were those most indicated by both men and women. It is concluded that men participate little in bringing up children and household chores and that women continue to shoulder the responsibility. Both are concerned about their body image, but women have little self-acceptance of and satisfaction with their bodies and a stronger sense of being judged by how they look. Gender stereotypes persist, despite extensive legislation in Spain since 2004.

Research limitations/implications

The study has limitations deriving from its choice of convenience sampling. Although it includes participants from six Spanish autonomous communities, the number from each region is not very high. Nevertheless, the sample is representative of almost all branches of knowledge (54 professions). Another limitation concerns the images used in the research instrument as a data collection strategy insofar, as they could not be obtained from a data bank specific to the research subject but instead had to be found in databases of general images. It can be inferred that a data collection strategy without any danger of bias would be to encourage each participant to design their own images, reflecting their perceptions and auto-perceptions of gender roles and stereotypes. The fact that there were no pre-existing studies using this type of research instrument in education sciences was a handicap for the investigation. Despite these methodological limitations, the results of the study may serve as a basis for implementing specific future actions originating from any area – but especially from the area of education – aimed at teaching people about equal roles in order to eliminate sexist sterotypes. This research was carried out as part of the Proyecto Diseño y Atención a las Oportunidades de Género en la Educación Superior (Project on Design and Gender Equality of Opportunities in Higher Education) funded by the Vicerrectorado de Cooperación al Desarrollo (Office for University Cooperation for Development) at the University of Alicante (Spain).

Practical implications

Spanish legislation has not been able to promote significant changes in the performance of traditional gender roles or to eliminate sexist stereotypes that perpetuate imbalances between men and women. The ideal and prevalent model of a Spanish woman is still that of a “self-sacrificing mother”, responsible for the household chores and childcare. She must combine this first job with a second profession, and, in addition, she must have a “desirable physical image”. The study puts forward various possible solutions for reducing and/or eradicating sexist attitudes with the participation of different social agents and in particular through education. The investigation could be of use when carrying out specific cross-sectional interventions on the subject of gender equality with students on postgraduate teacher training courses, for the purposes of encouraging the elimination of stereotypes and strengthening the capacity for critical judgement, positive self-concept and self-esteem.

Originality/value

The study may be useful for carrying out specific and transversal university training interventions in postgraduate teacher training on gender equality aimed at promoting the elimination of stereotypes, the strengthening of critical judgement capacity, positive self-concept and self-esteem.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 41 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 30 August 2022

Shqipe Gashi Nulleshi and Viktorija Kalonaityte

This paper aims to add to the theorization of the gender dynamic in rural areas by investigating the motives of women who join their family firm (or their spouse's family firm…

2154

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to add to the theorization of the gender dynamic in rural areas by investigating the motives of women who join their family firm (or their spouse's family firm) and thereby defy the demographic trend of rural flight. The context of this study is the depopulation of rural areas with the closing of basic services and relocation of the younger population, and educated women in particular, to urban areas. Consequently, rural family businesses risk failing to find successors and suffering forced closure or relocation. The empirical site of the study is rural family firms in Sweden, a context characterized by a high level of gender equality in legislation and culture but gender-conservative business structures in rural regions.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical case in this paper builds on a qualitative study of nine (9) life course narratives of women entrepreneurs in a rural region of Southern Sweden who have returned to rural areas to join their family business. The authors follow the view established by gender scholars that women are active agents in navigating their lives, and their life story narratives offer insight into the considerations that inform their choice to stay or return to rural locations. In Sweden, the setting for the study, gender equality is widely supported by legislation, policy and institutional frameworks and popular understanding of gender relations. In contrast to the gender-progressive policies of Sweden at large, women's entrepreneurship in rural regions of Sweden tends to follow traditional gender hierarchies and face similar constraints as in rural areas of other countries. The juxtaposition of these competing sets of ideals makes Sweden an important and interesting place to study and draw insights from the experiences of women entrepreneurs.

Findings

The findings reveal that women who choose to join rural family firms view them primarily in a positive light and see this choice as aligned with their need for professional flexibility and assertiveness, rewarding relationships, and a calm, secure, well-balanced life. Theoretically, the study implies that women choosing to engage in rural family firms seek non-material benefits, such as work–life balance and social support, and may be driven in part by a sense of psychological ownership that extends to the rural community.

Originality/value

The findings provide novel insights on women as active agents in navigating their lives and the intrinsic (e.g. alignment of personal values) and extrinsic (e.g. community support) motives that inform their decisions. The study also raises questions regarding how women perceive themselves as “fitting in” to rural settings and to what extent the sense of security within these settings that the women describe may be contingent upon factors such as their families' embeddedness within the community as well as their conformity to the local social norms.

Details

International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, vol. 15 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-6266

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 28 July 2021

Malin Tillmar, Helene Ahl, Karin Berglund and Katarina Pettersson

Contrasting two countries with different gender regimes and welfare states, Sweden and Tanzania, this paper aims to analyse how the institutional context affects the ways in which…

1737

Abstract

Purpose

Contrasting two countries with different gender regimes and welfare states, Sweden and Tanzania, this paper aims to analyse how the institutional context affects the ways in which a neo-liberal reform agenda is translated into institutional changes and propose how such changes impact the preconditions for women’s entrepreneurship.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses document analysis and previous studies to describe and analyse the institutions and the institutional changes. This paper uses Scandinavian institutional theory as the interpretative framework.

Findings

This study proposes that: in well-developed welfare states with a high level of gender equality, consequences of neo-liberal agenda for the preconditions for women entrepreneurs are more likely to be negative than positive. In less developed states with a low level of gender equality, the gendered consequences of neo-liberal reforms may be mixed and the preconditions for women’s entrepreneurship more positive than negative. How neo-liberalism impacts preconditions for women entrepreneurs depend on the institutional framework in terms of a trustworthy women-friendly state and level of gender equality.

Research limitations/implications

The study calls for bringing the effects on the gender of the neo-liberal primacy of market solutions out of the black box. Studying how women entrepreneurs perceive these effects necessitates qualitative ethnographic data.

Originality/value

This paper demonstrates why any discussion of the impact of political or economic reforms on women’s entrepreneurship must take a country’s specific institutional context into account. Further, previous studies on neo-liberalism have rarely taken an interest in Africa.

Details

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, vol. 16 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6204

Keywords

Open Access
Book part
Publication date: 25 July 2022

Barbara De Micheli and Giovanna Vingelli

Research-funding organisations (RFOs) and research-performing organisations (RPOs) are in a privileged position to significantly reshape the research and innovation landscape …

Abstract

Research-funding organisations (RFOs) and research-performing organisations (RPOs) are in a privileged position to significantly reshape the research and innovation landscape – not only by implementing gender equality plans (GEPs) as institutions but also in terms of the relationship and potential impact of these plans on the institutional context in which they are embedded. This paper reflects on the content and methodology of the GEP implementation at two RFOs and one non-university RPOs. Grounded in the knowledge base of each organisation, the analysis provides insights and expert feedback in order to understand to what extent and under which conditions GEPs are a systematic and comprehensive policy in promoting structural change that has a high potential impact on research policy definition and funding. Reviewing the internal assessment phase, the preliminary steps in the design process as well as the implementation and monitoring phase, the analysis detects both the strengths and challenges or resistance connected to external and internal factors as well as the specific strategies that small organisations employ to promote and sustain organisational and cultural change.

Details

Overcoming the Challenge of Structural Change in Research Organisations – A Reflexive Approach to Gender Equality
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-122-8

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 26 August 2022

Sara Falcão Casaca, Maria João Guedes, Susana Ramalho Marques and Nuno Paço

This study aims to provide a comparative portrait of the profile of men and women in the boardrooms of listed companies (Euronext Lisbon, Portugal) during the first stage of the…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to provide a comparative portrait of the profile of men and women in the boardrooms of listed companies (Euronext Lisbon, Portugal) during the first stage of the gender quota law, by comparing the profile of those board members appointed before the mandated quota law and those appointed after it. This study also seeks to contribute to a critical review of the main reservations expressed by some core institutional actors, who initially voiced their concern that it might be difficult to find women in equal conditions to men in terms of their cumulative experience and qualifications to serve as board members.

Design/methodology/approach

In addition to providing a comparative descriptive analysis of male and female board members’ profiles before and after the mandated gender quota law, an aggregate professional endowments measure (professional endowments Index) is also calculated.

Findings

The research findings show that, in the first stage of the quota law, men and women appointed as board members after the mandated gender quota law are fundamentally similar in their professional attributes, forming a more homogeneous boardroom than those holding board positions before it.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature on the profile of the men and women serving on the publicly listed company boards in Portugal, by comparing their profiles before and after the mandated gender quota law. This study also fills a gap in the literature, as studies about gender quotas and corporate boards relating to Portugal and Southern European countries in general are still relatively scant. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study carried out into the gender quota law on corporate boards in Portugal.

Details

Gender in Management: An International Journal , vol. 37 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2413

Keywords

Content available
121

Abstract

Details

Women in Management Review, vol. 21 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0964-9425

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