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Purpose—The notion of organizations as gendered is not new, yet critical gaps in the understanding of the processes responsible for the creation and maintenance of these gendered organizations still exist. Within the existing breadth and depth of feminist organizational scholarship, an increasing number of researchers have been drawn to Joan Acker’s notion of the “gendered substructure” as one of the more promising frameworks for analysis of the gendering of organizations. In this chapter, the authors seek to develop an analysis of Acker’s gendered substructure through, and reflection on, its application.

Design/methodology/approach—Acker’s framework of gendering processes is explored through a case study of the gendering of a single organization over time—Pan American World Airways (Pan Am). The authors’ “reading” of the archival materials was informed by a combination of feminist poststructuralism, critical discourse analysis, and critical hermeneutics.

Findings—Through an exploration of the roots of Acker’s framework and its application to a case study of a single organization over time (Pan Am), the chapter contends that its greatest potential lies in examining the four process sets—division of labor, workplace culture, social interactions, and (self) reflection—through a fifth process of “organizational logic” that is seen as temporal and contextual. Drawing on poststructuralist feminist theory, it argues that organizational logic can be viewed through analyses of organizational, and organizationally based, discourses.

Originality/value—The chapter argues that the (widely recognized) heuristic value of Joan Acker’s “gendered substructure” has not been realized due to inconsistencies in its interpretation and application. This study engages Acker’s framework in its entirety, as gendering processes do not exist in silos and are likely more interdependent than typically credited. The chapter looks at the dynamics of, and between the five sets of, gendering processes.

The notion of organizations as gendered is not new yet critical gaps in the understanding of the processes responsible for the creation and maintenance of these gendered organizations still exist. Within the existing breadth and depth of feminist organizational scholarship an increasing number of researchers have been drawn to Joan Acker's notion of the “gendered substructure” as one of the more promising frameworks for analysis of the gendering of organizations. In this paper the authors seek to develop an analysis of Acker's gendered substructure through, and reflection on, its application.

Acker's framework of gendering processes is explored through a case study of the gendering of a single organization over time – Pan American World Airways (Pan Am). The authors' “reading” of the archival materials was informed by a combination of feminist poststructuralism, critical discourse analysis and critical hermeneutics.

Through an exploration of the roots of Acker's framework and its application to a case study of a single organization over time (Pan Am), the paper contends that its greatest potential lies in examining the four process sets – division of labor, workplace culture, social interactions and (self) reflection – through a fifth process of “organizational logic” that is seen as temporal and contextual. Drawing on poststructuralist feminist theory, it argues that organizational logic can be viewed through analyses of organizational, and organizationally based, discourses.

The paper argues that the (widely recognized) heuristic value of Joan Acker's “gendered substructure” has not been realized due to inconsistencies in its interpretation and application. This study engages Acker's framework in its entirety, as gendering processes do not exist in silos and are likely more interdependent than typically credited. The paper looks at the dynamics of, and between the five sets of, gendering processes.

This article provides an analysis of the gendering process in product innovation. Interwoven into this process is the encapsulation of a token position. The article expands and deepens the tokenism theory through a discussion of gender in the innovation process. The article draws from recent and classical theories of gender, ranging from gendering approaches to Acker's theory of gendered organisations and processes within organisations, and Moss Kanter's tokenism theory. The main objective of the article is to address this gap in the tokenicsm discussion and introduce a new concept of “processual tokenism”.

The article builds on an intensive single case study and uses a narrative methodology and approach in the analysis of the data of the case in question. The primary data used in the narratives consist of interview data. The article also uses documents and reports as secondary data in the narrative construction. The approach used is theoretical, interpretative and qualitative.

The article provides a detailed narrative of the intertwined nature of the gender position in an organisation and the invention process. One of the outcomes is that the gendering of a product is triggered by tokenism, and that gendering of a product can be interpreted also as a deliberate and successful process. The article contributes to the tokenism theorizing.

The limitations of the article may relate to the specificity of the innovation process in chemical industry that are different to other industrial fields.

The article does not have direct practical implications.

The article contributes to the theory of tokenism by providing an updated and extended version of tokenism and naming it as “processual tokenism”. Furthermore, the article contributes to the debates on gendered organisations by focusing on gendering through tokenism and the persistence of male dominance. Finally, the article contributes to gender theories by introducing the idea and analysing of how the gendering of a product innovation takes place.

The purpose of this paper is to examine perspective of “gendered labour process” to explore the aspectsof managerialism, which utilize gender as a control measure to achieve its ends. The paper seeks to integrate gender and labour process theory and contribute to studies on gendering of organizations that focus on organization logic as well as integrated studies of labour process theory and gender.

The paper utilizes thematic analysis as the method for analysing the interviews of senior managers in an information technology service organization in India, to identify managerial ideologies and practices.

A gendered labour process perspective could reveal the institutional orders that systemically discriminate or exclude women in organizations, rather than gender ideologies alone.

Rather than focussing on gender sensitization alone, as is the case with the gender diversity initiatives, it may be fruitful to revisit work design and work organization, to identify and implement changes, so that women’s marginalization and exclusion from certain workplaces could be minimized.

A view of gendered labour process could aid public policies aimed at enabling women to continue their employment without disruptions.

The paper attempted to integrate gender and labour process theory by delineating the organization logic that deploys gender as a means of managerial control.

Interventions to support gender equality in organisations are often unsuccessful. Stakeholders disagree about the causes and problem definition of gender equality or pay lip service to the principle of gender equality, but fail to implement gender equality in practice. The purpose of this paper is to examine participatory modelling as an intervention method to support stakeholders in: reaching a shared problem definition and analysis of gender inequality; and identifying and implementing policies to tackle gender inequality.

The authors apply participatory modelling in case studies on impediments to women’s careers in two Dutch universities.

This study shows that participatory modelling supported stakeholders’ identification of the self-reinforcing feedback processes of masculinity of norms, visibility of women and networking of women and the interrelatedness between these processes. Causal loop diagrams visualise how the feedback processes are interrelated and can stabilise or reinforce themselves. Moreover, they allow for the identification of possible interventions.

Further testing of the causal loop diagrams by quantifying the stocks and the flows would validate the feedback processes and the estimated effects of possible interventions.

The integration of the knowledge of researchers and stakeholders in a causal loop diagram supported learning about the issue of gender inequality, hereby contributing to transformative change on gender equality.

The originality of the paper lies in the application of participatory modelling in interventions to support gender equality.

This paper aims to examine if the notion of gender subtext is still a useful concept to study the implicit processes of gender distinctions in organizations. It also aims to confront the authors' earlier elaboration of the concept of gender subtext with recently developed insights on how organizational processes produce gender at work.

The paper reviews the literature that was used to develop the notion of gender subtext. Then it turns to the new insights, concepts and theories that should be included in the update of the notion of gender subtext. The discussion focuses on three elements in particular: the entrance of intersectionality, the disappearance of the layered processes and the prevailing persistency of power.

The paper concludes that the original concept of gender subtext as a power‐based set of arrangements that reproduce gender distinctions can benefit from the recent theorizing on gender in organizations. The new notion gender^plus subtext takes the interference of multiple inequalities into account. Gender is one important part, but not the only, or even the most important, form of inequality at work. To understand the dynamic process of (re)production of these inequalities, the paper points to the interplay between structural, cultural, interaction and identity processes in organizations, and to the hybrid power processes of compliance, accommodation, resistance and counter‐resistance.

The authors hope that this updated version may trigger more debate about the reproduction and, more importantly, about change of gender inequalities in organizations.

The paper reconceptualizes gender subtext, bringing a new perspective to the understanding of the power processes that produce or alter complex inequalities in organizations.

This paper sets out to investigate and critique the corpus of recent research into gender dimensions of strategic management and accounting processes with a view to establishing the current state of knowledge and offering both future research and policy implications.

A literature‐based analysis and critique are employed. This is constructed from a social constructionist perspective, drawing on concepts of the variably gendered identity of discourse and of process, and a theory of absence.

The study uncovers major gaps in research attention and consequent knowledge concerning gendered characteristics of managers' and accountants' approaches to, and involvement in, strategic management and accounting processes. Evidence suggests that in these processes both feminine and masculine features constitute important but at present inadequately researched and understood modes of operation.

This research suggests opportunities for androgynous strategic management and accounting processes that draw on characteristics from both feminine and masculine perspectives. Also identified are a significant array of knowledge absences and related further research questions to be addressed.

The study opens up an area of significant research neglect, particularly in accounting. It offers theoretical and methodological paths for moving this research agenda forward.

This paper seeks to challenge the tendency to represent gender as a unitary theoretical construct; and would argue for a more differentiated view of how the psychological aspects of gender influence the consumption of advertising. We use a small‐scale exploratory study to examine the potential impact of gender identity within consumers’ self‐schemas on their consumption of advertising. Bem’s Sex Role Inventory (SRI) was administered to 25 young adults who then watched video clips of two television advertisements. The focus group discussions about the two advertisements were analysed within the context of the respondents’ gender schemas identified via the Bem SRI scores: masculine, feminine, androgynous or undifferentiated. The centrality of gender identity to self‐schemas affected how consumers processed and interpreted the advertising. This provides support for a more differentiated approach to representing men and women within gender research and advertising because gender groups are neither necessarily homogeneous nor isomorphic with sex.

The purpose of this paper is to explain how theories of inter-organizational learning can create new insights and nuances to how processes of intra-organizational learning come about in a single, complex and multi-sited organization.

A constructivist thematic analysis of the “Handbook of Feminist Foreign Policy” produced by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SMFA) is completed, exploring the organization’s own presentation of the complex learning processes that took place when implementing the new policy in 2014.

The literature on inter-organizational learning has a so far unexplored explanatory potential to understand learning processes that take place in complex, multi-sited organizations. This case demonstrates why and how this potential is relevant to exploit. Five themes are constructed from the analysis; four pointing out how gender mainstreaming is spread throughout the different parts of the organization and one detailing how the learning process has provided the SMFA knowledge exportable to other organizations.

Due to the complexity in large, multi-sited organizations today, this paper argues what is classically understood as solely inter-organizational processes could also apply to a single organization, as the learning processes this engages in, transitions intra- and inter-organizational learning. The study advances current understandings through exploring mechanisms of gender mainstreaming.

Understanding belonging provides a better insight into the structural, political, cultural and gendered elements of entrepreneurship. This paper aims to focus on Mexican female entrepreneurs’ (MFE) experiences in managing material and affective aspects of entrepreneurial belonging during the start-up and transition phase to become an established business owner.

The narrative analysis is based on qualitative interview data with 11 MFE in Mexico.

The analysis reveals that MFEs’ sense of belonging evolves from self-oriented to more socially-oriented identity claims. In the former, the need to “fit in” and achieve material aspects of belonging is intertwined with gender and family responsibilities. In the latter, the need to “stand out” and achieve affective aspects of belonging is intertwined with validating entrepreneurial achievements by challenging gendered assumptions and helping others through the notion of “sisterhood.”

The paper extends the understanding of the relation of material and affective aspects of belonging as an “evolving” process from the nascent stage to the established stage of entrepreneurship. Within the evolving process of entrepreneurial belonging, a shift from material to affective aspects unveils a theoretical framework that relates belonging, gender and entrepreneurship in context. This process seems to regulate entrepreneur’s agency in what they interpret as acceptable while standing up against challenges and legitimizing belonging through the emergence of a “sisterhood.”