This article presents a qualitative study of men who do traditionally female dominated and feminized work (specifically nursing and primary school teaching). Men are often seen as not only a minority to women in these contexts, but also their Other. The article explores the processes of doing gender as a social and discursive practice, highlighting the necessity to manage difference and the processual, emergent, dynamic, partial and fragmented nature of gendered identities. We show some of the complex ways in which men manage difference and how they transcend Otherness by doing masculinity and appropriating femininity so that masculinity is partially subverted and partly maintained. This analysis not only relies on the doing of gender through the doing of difference but also surfaces the undoing of gender and difference to disrupt gender norms and practices in work organizations.
Ackroyd, S. & Crowdy, P.Can culture be managed? Working with raw material: The case of the English slaughtermen. Personnel Review, 1990, 19, 3-13.
2.
Ainsworth, S. & Hardy, C.Discourse and identities. In C. Hardy , N. Phillips & S. Clegg (Eds), The SAGE handbook of organizational discourse. London: SAGE, 2004, pp. 153-74.
3.
Allan, J.Male elementary teachers, experiences and perspectives. In C. Williams (Ed.), Doing women's work: Men in non-traditional occupations. London: SAGE, 1993, pp. 113-27.
4.
Alvesson, M.Gender relations and identity at work: A case study of masculinities and femininities in an advertising agency. Human Relations, 1998, 51, 113-26.
5.
Alvesson, M. & Karreman, D.Varieties of discourse: On the study of organizations through discourse analysis . Human Relations, 2000, 53, 1125-49.
6.
Ashcraft, K.Back to work: Sights/sites of difference in gender and organizational communication studies. In B. Dow & J. Wood (Eds), The SAGE handbook of gender and communication. London: SAGE , 2006, pp. 97-122.
7.
Bagilhole, B.Challenging equal opportunities: Changing and adapting male hegemony in academia . British Journal of Sociology of Education, 2002, 23, 19-33.
8.
Benton DeCorse, C. & Vogtle, S.In a complex voice: The contradictions of male elementary teachers' career choice and professional identity. Journal of Teacher Education , 1997, 48, 37-46.
9.
Bruni, A. & Gherardi, S.Omega's story: The heterogeneous engineering of a gendered professional self . In M. Dent & S. Whitehead (Eds), Managing professional identities: Knowledge performativity and the new professional. London: Routledge, 2002, pp. 174-98.
10.
Budig, M.Male advantage and the gender composition of jobs: Who rides the glass escalator . Social Problems, 2002, 49, 258-77.
11.
Butler, J.Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge, 1990.
12.
Butler, J.Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of sex. London : Routledge, 1993.
13.
Butler, J.Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. London: Routledge, 1999.
Connell, R.The men and the boys. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000.
21.
Connell, R. & Messerschmidt, W.Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept . Gender & Society, 2005, 19, 829-59.
22.
Cross, S. & Bagilhole, B.Girl's jobs for the boys? Men, masculinity and non-traditional occupations . Gender Work and Organization, 2002, 9, 204-26.
23.
Cunliffe, A.Reflexive inquiry in organizational research: Questions and possibilities . Human Relations, 2003, 56, 983-1003.
24.
Davies, A. & Thomas, R.Gendering resistance in the public services. In R. Thomas, A. Mills & J. Helms Mills (Eds), Identity politics at work: Resisting gender, gendering resistance. London : Routledge, 2004, pp. 105-22.
25.
Deutsch, F.Undoing gender. Gender and Society, 2007, 21, 106-27.
26.
Douglas, M.Purity and danger: An analysis of concepts of pollution and taboos. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966.
27.
Ely, R. & Padavic, I.A feminist analysis of organizational research in sex differences. Academy of Management Review, 2007, 32, 1121-43.
28.
EOC. Facts about men and women in Great Britain. Manchester : Equal Opportunities Commission, 2002.
29.
Evans, J.Men in nursing: Exploring the male nurse experience. Nursing Enquiry, 1997, 4, 142-5.
30.
Evans, J.Cautious caregivers: Gender stereotypes and the sexualisation of men nurses' touch. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 2002, 40, 441-8.
Fournier, V.Keeping the veil of Otherness: Practising disconnection. In B. Czarniawska & H. Hopfl (Eds), Casting the other: The production and maintenance of inequalities in work organizations. London: Routledge, 2001, pp. 68-88.
36.
Gherardi, S.Gender, symbolism and organizational culture. London: SAGE, 1995.
37.
Gherardi, S. & Poggio, B.Creating and recreating gender order in organizations. Journal of World Business, 2002, 36, 245-59.
38.
Harding, S.Feminism and methodology. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1987.
39.
Hardy, C., Phillips, N. & Clegg, S.Reflexivity in organization and management theory: A study of the production of the research `subject'. Human Relations, 2001, 54, 531-60.
40.
Hearn, J.Deconstructing the dominant: Making the One(s) the Other(s). Organization, 1996, 3, 611-26.
41.
Heikes, J.When men are in the minority: The case of men in nursing. The Sociological Quarterly, 1991, 32, 389-401.
42.
Heilman, M.Sex discrimination and the affirmative action remedy: The role of sex stereotypes . Journal of Business Ethics, 1997, 16, 877-99.
43.
Hochschild, A.The managed heart: Commercialization of feeling. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1983.
44.
Kanter, R.Some effects of proportions on group life: Skewed sex ratios and responses to token women. American Journal of Sociology, 1977, 82, 965-82.
45.
Kerfoot, D.The organization of intimacy: Managerialism, masculinity and the masculine subject. In S. Whitehead & R. Moodley (Eds), Transforming managers: Gendering change in the public sector. London: UCL Press, 1999, pp. 185-200.
46.
Kerfoot, D. & Knights, D.Management masculinity and manipulation: From paternalism to corporate strategy in financial services in Britain. Journal of Management Studies , 1993, 30, 659-77.
47.
Kerfoot, D. & Knights, D.Managing masculinity in contemporary organizational life: A man(agerial) project . Organization, 1998, 5, 7-26.
48.
Knights, D.The `New Economy' and the `New Man': Virtual transitions or transitional virtualities . Keynote address to Asia-Pacific Researchers in Organization Studies conference, Baptist University, Hong Kong, December 2001.
49.
Knights, D. & Kerfoot, D.Between representations and subjectivity: Gender binaries and the politics of organizational transformation. Gender, Work & Organization , 2004, 11, 430-54.
50.
Lewis, P.Emotion work and emotion space: Using a spatial perspective to explore the challenging of masculine emotion management practices. British Journal of Management, 2008, 19, S130-S140.
51.
Lewis, P. & Simpson, R.Gendering emotions in organizations. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2007.
52.
Linstead, A. & Brewis, J. (Eds). Beyond boundaries: Towards fluidity in theorising and practice. Gender, Work and Organization, 2004, 11, 335-62.
53.
Lorber, J.The paradoxes of gender. New York: Yale University Press, 1994.
54.
Lorber, J.Breaking the bowls: Degendering and feminist change. New York: Norton College Books, 2005 .
55.
Lupton, B.Maintaining masculinity: Men who do women's work. British Journal of Management, 2000, 11, S33-48.
56.
Lupton, B.Explaining men's entry into female concentrated occupations: Issues of masculinity and social class. Gender, Work & Organization, 2006, 13, 103-28.
57.
Martin, P.Y.`Said and done' versus `saying and doing': Gendering practices, practicing gender at work. Gender and Society, 2003, 17, 342-66.
58.
McDowell, L. & Pringle, R.Defining women. Cambridge: The Open University/Polity Press, 1992.
59.
Moloney, M. & Fenstermaker, S.Performance and accomplishment: Reconciling feminist conceptions of gender. In S. Fenstermaker & C. West (Ed.), Doing gender, doing difference. London: Routledge, 2002, pp. 198-204.
Murray, S.`We all love Charles': Men in childcare and the social construction of gender . Gender and Society, 1996, 10, 368-85.
62.
Pullen, A.Gendering the research self: Social practice and corporeal multiplicity in the writing of organizational research. Gender, Work and Organization , 2006a, 13, 277-98.
Pullen, A. & Knights, D.Undoing gender in organizations. Gender, Work and Organization , 2007, 14, 505-11.
65.
Pullen, A. & Linstead, S. (Eds.). Organization and identity. London: Routledge, 2005.
66.
Sargent, P.Real men or real teachers? Contradictions in the lives of men elementary school teachers. New York: Men's Studies Press, 2001.
67.
Shotter, J.Conversational realities: Constructing life through language. London: SAGE, 1993.
68.
Silverman, D.Interpreting qualitative data: Methods for analysing talk, text and interaction . London: SAGE, 1993.
69.
Simpson, R.Have times changed? Career barriers and the token woman manager. British Journal of Management, 1997, 8, 121-9.
70.
Simpson, R.Masculinity at work: The experiences of men in female dominated occupations . Work, Employment and Society, 2004, 18, 349-68.
71.
Simpson, R.Men in non-traditional occupations: Career entry, career orientation and experience of role strain. Gender, Work & Organization, 2005, 12, 363-80.
72.
Skeggs, B.Challenging masculinity and using sexuality. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 1991, 12(2), 127-39.
73.
Sveningsson, S. & Alvesson, M.Managing managerial identities: Organizational fragmentation, discourse and identity struggle. Human Relations, 2003, 56, 1163-93.
74.
Taylor, S. & Tyler, M.Emotional labour and sexual difference in the airline industry. Work Employment and Society, 2000, 14, 77-95.
75.
Thomas, R. & Linstead, A.`Losing the plot? Middle managers and identity. Organization , 2002, 9, 71-93.
Tyler, M.Women in change management: Simone De Beauvoir and the co-optation of women's Otherness. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 2005, 18, 561-77.
78.
West, C. & Fenstermaker, S.Doing difference. Gender and Society, 1995, 9, 8-37.
79.
West, C. & Zimmerman, D.Doing gender. Gender and Society, 1987, 1, 121-51.
80.
West, C. & Zimmerman, D.Doing gender. In S. Fenstermaker & C. West (Eds), Doing gender, doing difference. London: Routledge , 2002, pp. 3-24.
81.
Whitehead, S.Woman as manager: A seductive ontology. Gender Work and Organization , 2001, 8, 84-107.
82.
Williams, C. (Ed.). Doing women's work: Men in non-traditional occupations. London: SAGE, 1993.
83.
Williams, C.Still in a man's world: Men who do women's work. London : University of California Press, 1995.
84.
Willis, P.Shop floor culture: Masculinity and the wage form. In Feminism and masculinities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, pp. 108-20.
85.
Witz, A. & Marshall, B.The quality of manhood: Masculinity and embodiment in the sociological tradition . The Sociological Review, 2003, 51, 339-56.
