Leadership through the Gender Lens: Women and Men in Organisations

Introduction to Special Issue on Gender and Leadership and a Future Research Agenda, 2018

This study takes inspiration from recent events in the US election to investigate why women are not able to assume certain leadership roles. Through an examination of management textbooks, beginning in 1950 and continuing to 2012, the authors chart the socio-political and historical context upon which the management texts were written and tease out the ways that women have been socially constructed as a problem to be managed. The study explores how the problem with women arose and how it has been maintained in organizational settings. The authors explore the role scholars and theorists in management and organization studies and management history can play in unpacking this dilemma and advancing change. The study undertakes a feminist interrogation to understand the systematic ways that roles and identities for women have been structured to both describe women negatively, limit and exclude them, and why such structures are durable. Additionally, the article asserts that the subtle shift from women as problem (collective), to a woman manager (as individual, as exceptional) and women as either the same or different from men, serves to blind us to the possibility of female governance.

2004

This paper addresses a crucial question, namely how the practices involved in what is labeled research contribute to the reproduction of gender inequality. Through a discourse analysis of research articles on women's entrepreneurship, I show that, contrary to intentions, this research second-sexes women. I also show how this is achieved. Discussing the particular practices that bring this about, I discuss how this seemingly inevitable result may be avoided. The implications go beyond gender issues, however. They entail a challenge of the very basis of management research practices.

ssrn, 2022

Gender inequality in several social structures of society is a long-standing issue. A more prevalent problem is the imbalance in leadership between males, females, and other communities. However, the statistics show a positive trend toward equality over the past few years, as more organizations employ more women in leadership positions. There is more campaign toward equality in workplaces and breaking structures and cultures that necessitate disparities. Some causes of the disparity include stereotyping, workplace harassment, segregation, and existing organizational cultures and structures that promote a patriarchal system. The existing societal gender roles/essentialism and social constructionism can explain these causes. Nonetheless, organizations miss out on the benefits of being a gender-equal company and face the consequences of promoting an imbalanced workplace full of conflict and harassment. Bridging the gap of this social inequality requires promoting policies that empower women and offer them a chance to be in the limelight. By improving workplace gender balance, we move toward an equal society and break the illusions of patriarchy and gendered cultures.

Sexism in Danish Higher Education and Research: Understanding, Exploring, Acting, 2021

This book is the result of the hundreds of brave employees at Danish higher education institutions who dared to step forward, either with their names or with their stories about sexism and sexual harassment through the initiative concerning Sexism in Danish academia, which we started by launching a petition in early October 2020. As the initiator group—16 individuals from six different research institutions—we are forever grateful for their courage and solidarity with each other and with us. Their many voices and stories show the surprising pervasiveness of sexism, with its many facets and types. They reveal how sexism traps our human flourishing and constrains what we can become individually, collectively, institutionally, and as a society. This book is a revolutionary exposition of the many voices, the transformation from “I have suffered” to “We have suffered.” The awakening of the us is in itself a political action toward change, assuring that we won’t forget or hide away the suffering that gendered and sexual harassment courses this day today. We dedicate this book to the change that is necessary in our society and institutions and hope that we hereby provide some justice to all those who have suffered wrongs rooted in sexism. This book is structured in four parts. First, we introduce the nature and issues of sexism in the chapter “Understanding,” which provides information that will help readers understand what sexism is, how it operates, and how it is performed. Secondly, this is followed by the chapter “Exploring,” which presents a “methodological mix” including both qualitative and quantitative data to explore the multiple ways in which sexism operates. In the first part, we present an array of vignettes, developed from the accounts and testimonials submitted to our petition, which are divided into different categories of sexism. Each story is part of a category and presents questions that invite readers to work with the complexity of sexism. In the second part, we present our quantitative study—a survey questionnaire—which we sent out following our petition to capture the extent of sexism. The next chapter, “Acting,” includes practical knowledge and exercises for staff and managers to examine how they can approach local efforts to fight sexism, including tangible tips and tools for handling sexism in the workplace. Lastly, the book offers a collection of knowledge resources and references to learn more about the complexity and action possibilities to deal with sexism.