Deakin University
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Feminism's marginal problem: Women in management

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conference contribution
posted on 2003-01-01, 00:00 authored by A Jeffries, Giuseppina Palermo
Contemporary feminism has, from its inception, been ambivalent in its responses to the issue of women in management. On the one hand, feminists have recognised as a problem the limited numbers of women in management and the barriers that they encounter. They have promoted the development of programs such as affirmative action with, arguably, greater, or lesser success. At the same time, there has been a reluctance by some feminists to attach too much importance to the issue, given the manifestly more severe forms of discrimination encountered by other groups of women. According to this view, the problems of a privileged elite are a lesser priority, that is, marginal to more pressing feminist concerns.

This paper is based on research into career success predictors. It draws on work on culture and models of change in higher education to show that while interventions such as legislation granting maternity leave are significant initiatives to be strongly supported, the impact of such policies is mediated by the social rules of the organisation. These rules are a corollary of enduring value structures which are embedded in organisational cultures.

Research findings showed that the value systems, and especially the social rules which operate within organisations impact on men and women's career success differently. This research provides valuable insights into the mechanisms operating at several levels (at the organisational level as well as at the level of individual women) which tend to construct women as marginal in management.

Seeking to understand the marginality experienced by women in management has benefits that extend well beyond improving the lot of individual women managers. This is because better conceptualisations of marginality and, concomitantly, power in organisations can provide leverage for more far reaching changes for women generally.

History

Pagination

61 - 73

Location

Perth, Australia

Open access

  • Yes

Start date

2003-06-25

End date

2003-06-27

ISBN-13

9781740673280

ISBN-10

174067328X

Language

eng

Notes

Reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright owner.

Publication classification

E1.1 Full written paper - refereed

Copyright notice

2003, ATN WEXDEV

Editor/Contributor(s)

B Groombridge, V Mackie

Title of proceedings

Re-searching research agendas : women, research and publication in higher education : proceedings of the Australian Technology Network-Women's Executive Development (ATN-WEXDEV) 2003 Research Conference

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