Power and resistance in gender equality strategies
Comparing quotas and small wins (also known as post-equity)
Dia 1 Introduction
How to change gender inequality is a topic that feminist organization scholars have been interested in for
many years.
Inequality in organization is something that is historical. There has been some success in beating
discrimination and gender inequalities.
Example: direct discrimination by sex and sexual harassment have been banned by laws and regulations in
many Western countries.
But it is going slow.
Why?
One important reason of this is because the changed nature of gender inequality at work that has gone
underground. By contemporary organizations this is deeply rooted and it has been proven that it is
difficult to change this kind of discrimination than changing the obvious inequalities.
Dia 2 Where is this chapter about?
Chapter 15 is about the issues of power and resistance in organizational change towards gender equality
to come to a better understanding of the success or failure of different types of strategies.
This presentation is structured as follows:
- First I will tell a little about
o The existing research
o Than I will tell about some different strategies organizations can use to change gender
equality
o Than I am going to zoom in into two specific strategies. These strategies target structural
change in organizations
o And I will also compare these strategies with each other
o I will end with some statements
MAIN AIM: I my opinion the main aim of this chapter is striving for equal opportunities for all individuals
through a variety of strategies.
Dia 3 Changing organizations towards gender equility
Changing organizations towards gender equality
There is a lot of literature about what keeps gender inequality in organizations but there is not much
known of what can be done to organize gender equality in organizations.
But in order to change organizations towards gender equality, Nentwich says that once we identify the
way organizations produce gender inequalities, they become potential targets for experimentation and
change.
Organizational change is not easy and do not always succeed. Fundamental problems are:
- Unequal treatment,
, - Lack of access to resources
- Or gendered processes of organizing
Before we going into some strategies of how to counter gender inequalities in organizations. I first want
to explain the role of power and resistance in order to come to a better understanding of the success or
failure of changing an organization. They play an important role in the success or failure to change
towards a greater gender equality.
Dia 4 Power and resistance
Power is linked to the control of resources, behaviors, structures, agendas, ideology, cultures and
subjectivities.
Resistance is also a form of power that implies agency and is likely to be expressed in a multitude of
mundance (veelheid aan mondigheid) (in other words: many people that are willing to resist within an
organization), actions and behaviours at the workplace. It is a key issue for those who use critical
perspectives.
Resistance to change is typically strong or play and important role when an organizations cultural norms,
beliefs, attitudes and values are the target of change efforts.
Bij een eventuele vraag waarom het belangrijk is? It is a good tool to put pressure on the organization in
order to change.
Dia 5 Reviewing the different strategies (1/2)
Now I will tell about some different strategies. Therefore I will use the two-dimensional model of
Benschop and Verloo.
They came up with the individual-structural dimension. You can see the model in the PowerPoint and I
will tell about the four strategies within the different dimensions.
The individual structural dimension: refers to the roots of social inequality in societal structures or
individual action and the core target of the strategies and the inclusion-re-evaluation-tranformation
dimension addresses the aspired scope of the strategies for change.
1. Individual inclusion strategies
I will start with the individual inclusion strategies. Individual inclusion strategies are striving for equal
opportunities for all individuals, regardless of the social groups people belong to. All must be treated
equally and when competing for a job, hiring is only based on their individual merits. So it should not
matter who you are.
When people are going to compete for jobs their hiring is only based on their individual merits, such as
their experience and qualifications.
The strategy for change in this approach is to eliminate the differences between women and men by
learning women the political and strategic skills to ‘play the game’ so that women can compete with men
on a par. So equip the women. For example: by giving them leadership training.
Comparing quotas and small wins (also known as post-equity)
Dia 1 Introduction
How to change gender inequality is a topic that feminist organization scholars have been interested in for
many years.
Inequality in organization is something that is historical. There has been some success in beating
discrimination and gender inequalities.
Example: direct discrimination by sex and sexual harassment have been banned by laws and regulations in
many Western countries.
But it is going slow.
Why?
One important reason of this is because the changed nature of gender inequality at work that has gone
underground. By contemporary organizations this is deeply rooted and it has been proven that it is
difficult to change this kind of discrimination than changing the obvious inequalities.
Dia 2 Where is this chapter about?
Chapter 15 is about the issues of power and resistance in organizational change towards gender equality
to come to a better understanding of the success or failure of different types of strategies.
This presentation is structured as follows:
- First I will tell a little about
o The existing research
o Than I will tell about some different strategies organizations can use to change gender
equality
o Than I am going to zoom in into two specific strategies. These strategies target structural
change in organizations
o And I will also compare these strategies with each other
o I will end with some statements
MAIN AIM: I my opinion the main aim of this chapter is striving for equal opportunities for all individuals
through a variety of strategies.
Dia 3 Changing organizations towards gender equility
Changing organizations towards gender equality
There is a lot of literature about what keeps gender inequality in organizations but there is not much
known of what can be done to organize gender equality in organizations.
But in order to change organizations towards gender equality, Nentwich says that once we identify the
way organizations produce gender inequalities, they become potential targets for experimentation and
change.
Organizational change is not easy and do not always succeed. Fundamental problems are:
- Unequal treatment,
, - Lack of access to resources
- Or gendered processes of organizing
Before we going into some strategies of how to counter gender inequalities in organizations. I first want
to explain the role of power and resistance in order to come to a better understanding of the success or
failure of changing an organization. They play an important role in the success or failure to change
towards a greater gender equality.
Dia 4 Power and resistance
Power is linked to the control of resources, behaviors, structures, agendas, ideology, cultures and
subjectivities.
Resistance is also a form of power that implies agency and is likely to be expressed in a multitude of
mundance (veelheid aan mondigheid) (in other words: many people that are willing to resist within an
organization), actions and behaviours at the workplace. It is a key issue for those who use critical
perspectives.
Resistance to change is typically strong or play and important role when an organizations cultural norms,
beliefs, attitudes and values are the target of change efforts.
Bij een eventuele vraag waarom het belangrijk is? It is a good tool to put pressure on the organization in
order to change.
Dia 5 Reviewing the different strategies (1/2)
Now I will tell about some different strategies. Therefore I will use the two-dimensional model of
Benschop and Verloo.
They came up with the individual-structural dimension. You can see the model in the PowerPoint and I
will tell about the four strategies within the different dimensions.
The individual structural dimension: refers to the roots of social inequality in societal structures or
individual action and the core target of the strategies and the inclusion-re-evaluation-tranformation
dimension addresses the aspired scope of the strategies for change.
1. Individual inclusion strategies
I will start with the individual inclusion strategies. Individual inclusion strategies are striving for equal
opportunities for all individuals, regardless of the social groups people belong to. All must be treated
equally and when competing for a job, hiring is only based on their individual merits. So it should not
matter who you are.
When people are going to compete for jobs their hiring is only based on their individual merits, such as
their experience and qualifications.
The strategy for change in this approach is to eliminate the differences between women and men by
learning women the political and strategic skills to ‘play the game’ so that women can compete with men
on a par. So equip the women. For example: by giving them leadership training.
