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1 – 10 of 351Katarina Pettersson and Malin Lindberg
Various studies indicate that men and certain masculinities are ascribed a normative role in innovation policies and innovation networks. This article aims to analyse which…
Abstract
Purpose
Various studies indicate that men and certain masculinities are ascribed a normative role in innovation policies and innovation networks. This article aims to analyse which feminist approaches have been used in order to articulate and perform resistance to the hegemonic “masculinist” discourses on innovation, applying the concept of paradoxical space coined by Rose. The paper specifically focuses on Swedish gender and innovation research and development (R&D) projects, as Sweden has been depicted as progressive in the theoretical and practical development of this field.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyses feminist approaches used in the “margin to the mainstream” of innovation R&D. The analysis is conducted on research and evaluation – where the authors have been involved as “outsiders within”. The empirical material is gathered through literature searches and interviews.
Findings
The paper concludes that three approaches to feminist resistance, outlined by Rose, are used in the analysed material: movements between the centre and margin; reaching beyond representation and definition, and paradoxical spaces used as separatism. A fourth approach – using paradoxical space for recognising differences in terms of, for example, “race”, class and sexuality – is mainly lacking in the material, except in a few cases. The theoretical contribution lies in clarifying and delineating the occurrence of different approaches to the application of a gender perspective on innovation R&D, and in highlighting the implication for gendered innovation discourses in policy, research and practice.
Practical implications
Implications based on the analysis include the need for applying different approaches to feminist resistance against the masculinist central discourse on innovation, since different approaches are able to perform resistance against the different aspects of the masculinist discourses. The findings indicate that policy support and specific calls in the field of gender and innovation are necessary for the development of this field. Further, policy support should enable various approaches to feminist resistance.
Originality/value
The article contributes by providing an overview of programs, projects and studies concerning gender and innovation R&D in Sweden – thus delineating the forefront of the scientific and practical field of gender and innovation. It also links feminist theories to practical efforts, identifying different approaches to feminist resistance towards a masculinist central discourse on innovation.
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Beverly Dawn Metcalfe, Yasmeen Makarem and Fida Afouni
This chapter address how critical feminist organization studies can shed light on the dominance of masculinist logics in TM theorizing in both theory and practice and open up…
Abstract
This chapter address how critical feminist organization studies can shed light on the dominance of masculinist logics in TM theorizing in both theory and practice and open up opportunities to review TM systems that stress inclusion and equity. The exclusive approach is most worrisome given that contemporary events such as the prosecution of Harvey Weinstein the global ‘#metoo campaigns and the Sustainable Development Goals have highlighted the importance of equality agendas. We draw on transnationalism, intersectionality and postcolonialism approaches to illustrate how TM reinforces inequalities. Our contribution questions the elite logics, and the white Global North males that dominate both TM theorizing, and TM practitioners and denies many stakeholders voices and contributions to organization life. We also question the longevity of the elite mantra of MNCs’ HRM policy given that the Sustainable Development Goals are increasingly being advocated by the business community, and contradict entirely an organizational ethic premised on valuing the elite.
The paper seeks to evaluate the views of manager‐academics on gender equity and research in one UK institution.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to evaluate the views of manager‐academics on gender equity and research in one UK institution.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on semi‐structured interviews with 22 manager‐academics in one UK institution, against a context of national data.
Findings
It was found that manager‐academics had little knowledge of the conceptual issues surrounding gender equity and used a discourse of choice and agency to explain continuing inequalities in the research careers of women academics.
Research limitations/implications
While the case study was carried out in one institution, it replicates many of the issues raised by national studies and data.
Practical implications
Good practice in encouraging gender equity for women academics engaged in research includes role models, confidence and support networks, gender awareness training for managers, mentoring and building networks.
Originality/value
The paper provides new empirical data on gender equity and research in one UK university and critically analyses the gap between theory on gender equity and practice of manager‐academics. It provides a link between a micro‐agentic viewpoint and a meso‐institutional viewpoint and suggests that both these as well as a macro national and supranational view will give a fuller analysis of the issue of gender equity and research careers for women academics.
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Beginning with the premise that “organizational culture” is a useful heuristic for the study of gender at work, this chapter focuses on the problem of studying the culture of…
Abstract
Beginning with the premise that “organizational culture” is a useful heuristic for the study of gender at work, this chapter focuses on the problem of studying the culture of organizations over time, setting out to demonstrate how the social construction of corporate history has, until now, lent itself to gendered notions of business practices. Arguing that history itself is but one of a series of discourses about the world, the chapter outlines a feminist strategy for the study of organizational culture over time that includes: (i) feminist historiography as history written from a feminist point of view; (ii) a commitment to the notion of history as discourse rooted in the present; (iii) a view of women’s rights development as a paradoxical process of progress and regress; (iv) a gender focus approach that studies the impact of discrimination on the social construction of masculinity/femininity and sexual preference; and (v) an approach that is sensitive to the contextualization of gender. British Airways is used as a case study to illustrate some of the problems of historic re/construction and feminist historiography.
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Golnaz Golnaraghi and Albert J. Mills
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between neo‐colonialist discourse and Quebec's proposed Bill 94 aimed at restricting the public activities of niqab and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between neo‐colonialist discourse and Quebec's proposed Bill 94 aimed at restricting the public activities of niqab and veil‐wearing Muslim women.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing upon postcolonial feminist frames, this study critically analyzes the discourses of Muslim women and Western elites that serve to construct the niqab and veil‐wearing Muslim women. Using critical discourse analysis of digital and print media articles from 1994 to 2010, the authors trace the discursive character of the Muslim woman related to Bill 94 which proposes the banning of religious face coverings when seeking public services in the Province of Quebec, Canada.
Findings
This paper develops a postcolonial understanding of the discursive conditions that constitute the social environment in which Muslim women are required to operate in Quebec and the advent of Bill 94. The authors contend that the discourses in the construction of Muslim women have mutated over time towards Western cultural hegemony and paternalism, and, in the process, Muslim women have been constructed as oppressed, in need of saving, and at the same time not to be trusted.
Research limitations/implications
The account of events in this paper offer an alternative lens in privileging some of the embedded beliefs and values behind dominant cultural accounts of Quebec in relation to Muslim women and Bill 94. Future scholars may wish to extend this study through examining discourses of secular, veil and niqab‐wearing Muslim women; newcomers, those living in Canada for a longer period and those born in Canada; as well as those from different countries of origin. Another area of research that is ripe for exploration is workplace experiences of Muslim women in Canada. Additionally, examination of overt and subtle discrimination faced by Muslim women would provide important insights into employment equity and human rights.
Originality/value
This paper presents a close look at public discourses around the niqab and Muslim women in Canada, demonstrating the persistence of colonial dynamics and mindsets influencing how issues regarding minority groups are evaluated today.
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Beverly Dawn Metcalfe and Christopher J. Rees
Current debates on neo‐liberal and universalistic globalization pay little attention to gender or to other marginalized groups, and fail to consider the complexity and diversity…
Abstract
Purpose
Current debates on neo‐liberal and universalistic globalization pay little attention to gender or to other marginalized groups, and fail to consider the complexity and diversity of the experiences of men and women in specific socio‐political contexts, especially those in the developing world. The paper challenges mainstream theories which present globalization and its associated forces as gender neutral. The main purpose of this paper is to advance theoretical debates on the gendered organizing dynamics of globalization.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on organization theory, gender and development studies literature, and feminist sociology, to advance critical understandings of contemporary debates of the intersecting qualities of globalization, transnational organizations and gender social divisions.
Findings
The paper provides a critical synthesis of the complexity and interconnections between gender, organization and globalization. The paper identifies international development agencies; transnational corporations; international nongovernmental organizations and government state machineries as key stakeholders in the global and national regulation of employment and diversity issues. The paper outlines the organizing praxis of these key stakeholders, and stresses the need for all actors to engage in human rights awareness and equality consciousness raising.
Originality/value
The paper provides an original gendered organization analysis of globalization which reveals the specificity of global‐local linkages mediated by national states, international organizations, women's NGOs and gendered government machineries.
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This paper aims to call the public health and mental health communities to action by making women’s mental health a public health priority.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to call the public health and mental health communities to action by making women’s mental health a public health priority.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper introduces a “Female Psychology” approach to framing and interpreting mental health narratives and public health discourses. It also draws upon lifecourse research as a way of better understanding mental illness.
Findings
This paper calls for action to prioritise women’s mental health on the public health agenda like has never previously been done before.
Research limitations/implications
New theoretical bases for research and practice are presented, encouraging the adoption of a “Female Psychology” approach to women’s lifecourses and mental health narratives.
Practical implications
Suggestions for changes to how we view, diagnose and treat women’s mental health are incorporated, ensuring women’s mental health narratives are placed firmly at the centre of their care and support.
Social implications
Women’s mental health has long been marginalised and dismissed as exaggerated and/or insignificant, and therefore has not had the economic-, personnel- and time-resource allocated to it, which it so desperately requires. This paper aims to tip the imbalance.
Originality/value
This paper, though conceptual, offers “Female Psychology” as both a practical and pragmatic approach to improving women’s mental health research, practice, and care. It is the first of its kind to, so directly, call the public health and mental health communities to prioritise women’s mental health.
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Lynne F. Baxter and Alasdair MacLeod
This paper seeks to utilize the concept of testicularity put forward by Flannigan‐Saint‐Aubin to explain a shift in the hegemonic masculinities in two organizations which were…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to utilize the concept of testicularity put forward by Flannigan‐Saint‐Aubin to explain a shift in the hegemonic masculinities in two organizations which were unusual in being successful in realizing their aims for improvement.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodological approach taken is broadly social constructionism. The two organizations featured in the paper are drawn from a more extensive study of 22 organizations studied in the UK and the Netherlands. The first phase of the research consisted of extended interview visits. The visits, lasting two or three days, consisted of a mix of formal interviews and observation of the sites and less formal discussion and observation, frequently during meal breaks.
Findings
The organizations instigated change processes, which created opportunities for women employees, sometimes at the expense of men. Previous work has discussed whether organization change can represent a feminizing of the workplace, but this did not fully encapsulate the present findings – the men remained in charge – and this led the authors to investigate further masculinities. Flannigan‐Saint‐Aubin's concept is rare in that it argues for positive aspects of masculinities in a growing literature which has a tendency to focus on the negative.
Originality/value
The paper argues that shifts in gender performance are a useful way of exploring organization change.
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