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Book part
Publication date: 18 September 2018

Karen Powroznik, Irena Stepanikova and Karen S. Cook

This research explores how gender influences the experience of cancer care and proposes a new explanation for gender differences in posttraumatic growth among individuals who…

Abstract

Purpose

This research explores how gender influences the experience of cancer care and proposes a new explanation for gender differences in posttraumatic growth among individuals who received blood or marrow transplantation as treatment for lymphoma.

Methodology/approach

We use mixed methods, combining quantitative examination of surveys with 180 survivors with qualitative findings from semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 50 survivors. Participants were 2–25 years after transplantation. Quantitative data were analyzed using statistical modeling; qualitative data were analyzed using thematic coding.

Findings

A quantitative examination indicates that compared to men, women report greater posttraumatic growth and more positive impacts of cancer despite having lower physical health. These gender differences are robust even after controlling for physical and emotional well-being, life satisfaction, and social support. Qualitative findings from in-depth interviews show that gender norms and expectations about masculinity and femininity shape how individuals experience illness and perform the role of patient and survivor. Expectations about being a good patient and survivor are more aligned with expectations about femininity and tend to conflict with expectations about masculinity. Gender norms discourage men from reporting personal growth from cancer and encourage women to overemphasize the positive aspects of having had cancer.

Research limitations/implications

This study was conducted two or more years after treatment had ended; therefore, potential for recall bias existed. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that viewing cancer as transformative is part of a gender performance that limits opportunities for individuals to experience and express a diverse range of reactions which, at times, increases the emotional burden on individuals.

Originality/value

By combining survey data with in-depth interviews, the study offers new insights into the causes of gender differences in the reporting of patient outcomes after illness.

Details

Gender, Women’s Health Care Concerns and Other Social Factors in Health and Health Care
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-175-5

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 October 2016

Lauren M. Zimmerman and Malissa A. Clark

The purpose of this paper is to highlight an emerging and evolving area within women’s careers literature – women’s opting-out and opting-in experiences. Highlights from several…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to highlight an emerging and evolving area within women’s careers literature – women’s opting-out and opting-in experiences. Highlights from several career theories, extant research, and a framework for women’s opting-out and opting-in experiences are discussed as well as future research considerations for women’s career breaks.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study provides the first synthesis of the theoretical and empirical work on women’s opting-out and opting-in experiences, by providing a framework that integrates existing research with the kaleidoscope career model. Published works from 1986 until the present were considered from psychology, management, sociology, and economics literatures.

Findings

This paper provides information about how women’s experiences of opting-out and opting-in to the workforce have emerged and evolved over the past few decades. Theoretical foundations, quantitative and qualitative research findings, and considerations for future research are discussed.

Practical implications

This paper is a useful source of information regarding an emerging and evolving area of studying within the women’s career literature. The paper discusses considerations for scholars and practitioners regarding developing, supporting, and retaining female talent amidst women’s career break experiences.

Originality/value

This paper provides an integrative framework that provides theoretical and empirical perspectives on the changing nature of women’s career values and choices, which influences their experiences of opting-out and opting-in to the workforce. Given both the changing demographics of the current workforce (e.g. increased women’s participation in the workforce) and women’s career values, research on women’s career breaks is warranted.

Details

Career Development International, vol. 21 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1362-0436

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 2006

Jacqueline Granleese and Gemma Sayer

This study set out to explore employees' experience and understandings of gender and age in higher education to identify if women in higher education experienced the double…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study set out to explore employees' experience and understandings of gender and age in higher education to identify if women in higher education experienced the double jeopardy of gendered ageism. Further the role of physical attractiveness and appearance in higher education is explored.

Design/methodology/approach

Rich data were afforded by the qualitative method of in‐depth interviewing of 48 employees in a matched by gender, age grouping and academic status design. The recorded transcripts were subject to content and interpretative phenomenological analyses.

Findings

This study supports previous findings in different workplace settings that women, both academics and non‐academics, experience the double jeopardy of being discriminated against on the grounds of their age and gender in a way that men do not experience. Emergent themes are women: question they experience age discrimination as any perceived discrimination may be gender related and not only age‐related (uncertainty); are socialised to tolerate acceptable levels (tolerance); grow to love the perpetrators (identify with the status quo). Physical attractiveness and appearance are seen as relevant to the workplace in higher education. Non‐academics see academics as being career driven by their lack of attractiveness and or poor appearance. Male academics perceive women academics as unattractive and dressing down in appearance. Young female academics play down their “looks”, i.e. attractiveness and appearance so the effect is minimal (minimisation) as they perceive these be a disadvantage in their careers. Male academics do not report such considerations. “Lookism” thus presents a further prejudice that female academics experience beyond gendered ageism.

Research limitations/implications

One experienced interviewer was used to enhance consistency of interviewing but there may be concerns about possible interviewer effects and the generalisability of the findings within higher education.

Practical implications

Having identified and elucidated “lookism” as a concern for female academics, its extent and sequalae in higher education may be addressed.

Originality/value

This is the first study to show female academics experience the triple jeopardy of gendered ageism and how they look i.e.“lookism”.

Details

Women in Management Review, vol. 21 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0964-9425

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2012

Simone Fullagar and Adele Pavlidis

The purpose of this paper is to develop a gendered understanding of women's experience of a mass cycle tour event.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a gendered understanding of women's experience of a mass cycle tour event.

Design/methodology/approach

This research uses an ethnographic approach to explore women's experiences of a cycle tour event. Qualitative data are analysed through the conceptual framework of post‐structural feminism.

Findings

Key themes included the meaning of women's cycle tour experience as a “shared journey”, the centrality of the “body” in event design (comfort, safety, enjoyment) and an event culture of “respect” (encouragement, skill development, knowledge sharing).

Research limitations/implications

This research is based on a particular sample of women who were largely Anglo‐Celtic, middle to lower middle class and middle aged Australians. Hence, this research does not claim to be representative of all women's experiences. Given the strong focus on quantitative research within event management, this research identifies the need for qualitative and feminist approaches.

Practical implications

The research findings identify a number of gender issues for professionals to reflexively consider in designing, promoting, managing and evaluating mass cycle tour events. The findings have implications for how active tourism events are conceptualised, promoted and managed as gender inclusive.

Social implications

Developing a gender inclusive approach to events can broaden the participant target market and address equity issues relating to women's participation in physical activity.

Originality/value

There has been little exploration of the gendered experience or management of events in the literature. Hence, this paper contributes to empirical research and theorising of women's experiences of active tourism events.

Details

International Journal of Event and Festival Management, vol. 3 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1758-2954

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 12 March 2024

Edicleia Oliveira, Serge Basini and Thomas M. Cooney

This article aims to explore the potential of feminist phenomenology as a conceptual framework for advancing women’s entrepreneurship research and the suitability of…

Abstract

Purpose

This article aims to explore the potential of feminist phenomenology as a conceptual framework for advancing women’s entrepreneurship research and the suitability of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to the proposed framework.

Design/methodology/approach

The article critically examines the current state of women’s entrepreneurship research regarding the institutional context and highlights the benefits of a shift towards feminist phenomenology.

Findings

The prevailing disembodied and gender-neutral portrayal of entrepreneurship has resulted in an equivocal understanding of women’s entrepreneurship and perpetuated a male-biased discourse within research and practice. By adopting a feminist phenomenological approach, this article argues for the importance of considering the ontological dimensions of lived experiences of situatedness, intersubjectivity, intentionality and temporality in analysing women entrepreneurs’ agency within gendered institutional contexts. It also demonstrates that feminist phenomenology could broaden the current scope of IPA regarding the embodied dimension of language.

Research limitations/implications

The adoption of feminist phenomenology and IPA presents new avenues for research that go beyond the traditional cognitive approach in entrepreneurship, contributing to theory and practice. The proposed conceptual framework also has some limitations that provide opportunities for future research, such as a phenomenological intersectional approach and arts-based methods.

Originality/value

The article contributes to a new research agenda in women’s entrepreneurship research by offering a feminist phenomenological framework that focuses on the embodied dimension of entrepreneurship through the integration of IPA and conceptual metaphor theory (CMT).

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 30 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 March 2024

Nadia Caidi, Saadia Muzaffar and Elizabeth Kalbfleisch

This pan-Canadian study examines the information practices of STEM-trained immigrant women to Canada as they navigate workfinding and workplace integration. Our study focuses on a…

Abstract

Purpose

This pan-Canadian study examines the information practices of STEM-trained immigrant women to Canada as they navigate workfinding and workplace integration. Our study focuses on a population of highly skilled immigrant women from across Canada and uses an information practice lens to examine their lived experiences of migration and labour market integration. As highly trained STEM professionals in pursuit of employment, our participants have specific needs and challenges, and as we explore these, we consider the intersection of their information practices with government policies, settlement services and the hiring practices of STEM employers.

Design/methodology/approach

We conducted a qualitative study using in-depth interviews with 74 immigrant women across 13 Canadian provinces and territories to understand the nature of their engagement with employment-seeking in STEM sectors. This article reports the findings related to the settlement and information experiences of the immigrant women as they navigate new information landscapes.

Findings

As immigrants, as women and as STEM professionals, the experiences of the 74 participants reflect both marginality and privilege. The reality of their intersectional identities is that these women may not be well-served by broader settlement resources targeting newcomers, but neither are the specific conventions of networking and job-seeking in the STEM sectors in Canada fully apparent or accessible to them. The findings also point to the broader systemic and contextual factors that participants have to navigate and that shape in a major way their workfinding journeys.

Originality/value

The findings of this pan-Canadian study have theoretical and practical implications for policy and research. Through interviews with these STEM professionals, we highlight the barriers and challenges of an under-studied category of migrants (the highly skilled and “desirable” type of immigrants). We provide a critical discussion of their settlement experiences and expose the idiosyncrasies of a system that claims to value skilled talent while structurally making it very difficult to deliver on its promises to recruit and retain highly qualified personnel. Our findings point to specific aspects of these skilled professionals’ experiences, as well as the broader systemic and contextual factors that shape their workfinding journey.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 May 2010

Patricia Lewis and Ruth Simpson

This editorial aims to introduce the special issue on meritocracy, difference and choice.

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Abstract

Purpose

This editorial aims to introduce the special issue on meritocracy, difference and choice.

Design/methodology/approach

The first part is a commentary on key issues in the study of the notions of meritocracy, difference and choice. The second part presents the six papers in the special issue.

Findings

Five of the six papers in this special issue explore the work experiences of women managers/directors in senior positions within a variety of organizations. All of these papers demonstrate that despite their economic empowerment, these women are still strongly connected to the domestic realm through their continued entanglement in the traditional roles of mother and homemaker. This has led them to interpret their work situation either through a consideration of what they understand by the notion of merit or a presentation of their situation through the lens of choice. A further paper which explores the experiences of sex workers exposes the gendered nature of agency, highlighting the limitations on “choice” that different types of workers experience.

Research limitations/implications

The authors comment on how contemporary notions of merit and choice individualise women's experience within organisations, ignoring the structural and systemic elements inherent to women's continued disadvantage. This allows “blame” for women's absence in the upper echelons of organisations to lie with women themselves, explaining this in terms of their lack of skills or the traditional “choices” they make. The six papers which make up the special issue explore how women's “choices” are constrained, how the contemporary discourses of merit and choice conceal issues of structure and organizational process and how women struggle to make sense of their own and others' experiences.

Practical implications

The issues discussed in the papers have important implications for understanding women's experience of work and organizations. They highlight the need to introduce a structural and systemic element to the understanding of how women experience work at senior (and other) levels of organizations, why they take the decision to leave a senior position and why women appear to “choose” not to seek senior positions.

Originality/value

Gender and Management: An International Journal invited this special issue on meritocracy, difference and choice to draw attention to the ways in which women draw on these discourses as a means of understanding their organizational situations and how use of these discourses acts to conceal the structural and systemic element connected to their work experiences.

Details

Gender in Management: An International Journal, vol. 25 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2413

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 11 January 2012

Joanna Lee Williams and Tanya M. Nichols

In the present chapter, we argue that Black college women's experiences with microaggressive racial discrimination are best understood through the lens of intersectionality, which…

Abstract

In the present chapter, we argue that Black college women's experiences with microaggressive racial discrimination are best understood through the lens of intersectionality, which emphasizes the interrelations between race and gender. We use a focus group method with 20 Black female students (mean age=20) from two different settings: a four-year university and a community college both located in the same college town. This qualitative approach allows us to understand Black women's experiences in more detail and to gain insight into how microaggressions are lived on a daily basis during college. Our findings affirm that in and around college campuses, many Black female students regularly encounter microaggressive forms of discrimination unique to being Black and female, which communicate messages of inferiority, criminal status, abnormal cultural values, and rigid stereotypes. We conclude with suggestions for what colleges and universities should do in order enhance support services and create a more inclusive environment.

Details

Black Female Undergraduates on Campus: Successes and Challenges
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-503-7

Book part
Publication date: 11 January 2012

Noel Harmon, Khalilah Doss and Saran Donahoo

Widely viewed and supported as entertainment, we still know relatively little about the postsecondary experiences about college student-athletes especially when compared to other…

Abstract

Widely viewed and supported as entertainment, we still know relatively little about the postsecondary experiences about college student-athletes especially when compared to other student populations. As such, this chapter contributes to that literature by first reviewing what we already know about Black female student-athletes as a unique population in the postsecondary environment who face challenges that differ from their Black male and White female counterparts. Second, this chapter expands the literature by analyzing data from original research conducted by the authors that focus on the academic, athletic, and campus climate experiences of these students.

Details

Black Female Undergraduates on Campus: Successes and Challenges
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-503-7

Book part
Publication date: 25 November 2019

Samantha Reveley

Purpose – The transition into motherhood is a major life course event for most women, and is one that can be fraught with difficulties due to the uncertainty and instability which…

Abstract

Purpose – The transition into motherhood is a major life course event for most women, and is one that can be fraught with difficulties due to the uncertainty and instability which accompanies it. Previous research has explored what factors interplay within this transition with identity changes being considered a key attribute. By using assemblage theory, this study aims to undertake an innovative approach to conceptualising identity. Assemblage theory permitted an exploration of how an identity comes to be assembled and embodied through a mother’s relationality with the social world around her as opposed to merely exploring identity as a static entity of a fixed, organic whole as has predominantly been done previously. Assemblage theory is premised upon understanding processes of becoming as opposed to states of being and as such takes a machinic approach to understanding wholes. Rather than being organic totalities, they are conceptualised as being transient and fluid entities comprising an amalgamation of interchangeable components which collectively stabilise to make up the whole. At times of change, an individual’s ties to an identity undergo deterritorialisation, or weaken, as their sense of self and identity readjusts before then experiencing reterritorialisation once they (re)established their ties to a new identity or role. By conceptualising the mothers as assemblages in this manner, it became possible to understand how the women reconstructed their selves and identities through the situated practices and experiences in their everyday lives as they established ties to their new role as a mother.

Methodology/Approach – Results are presented from biographical narrative interviews with 10 mothers each at different stages in motherhood. The interviews focussed on inducing uninterrupted narratives detailing the lived experiences of these women as they transitioned into and across motherhood. These interviews highlighted key stages in the transition into motherhood where a woman’s identity and sense of self would become destabilised and reformulated as a result of changes in her everyday lived experiences and routines.

Findings – Transitioning into motherhood proved to be a multifaceted process that comprises numerous stages where the new mothers identities would become unstable and deterritorialise as they faced new routines in their everyday life as they became a mother and settled into the role. Four dominant themes emerged during data analysis; emotional turmoil, the reconstruction of relationships, getting comfortable with their baby as well as rediscovering the self. The women largely experienced emotional turmoil as their identities became deterritorialised and reported that the relationships they held with others around them often changed or broke down entirely. It was not until they became comfortable with their baby and their role as a mother that they were able to rediscover their ‘self’ beyond simply being a mother. Once they reached this stage in the transition their identity was able to reterritorialise, becoming more stable as a result.

Originality/Value – This study not only presents an innovative method for conceptualising identity but also demonstrates the value of assemblage theory for conceptualising identity formulation and capturing the fluid and emergent nature of such processes. It demonstrates how assemblage theory can be utilised to further understandings of the multifaceted and ongoing nature of life course transitions. This study sheds light on the potential for assemblage theory to be utilised across a range of sociological topics relating to identity formulation, with such studies having the potential to really broaden the scope of sociological understandings of identity formation and life course transitions.

Details

Childbearing and the Changing Nature of Parenthood: The Contexts, Actors, and Experiences of Having Children
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-067-2

Keywords

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