The purpose of this project is to illustrate how the cultural practice of discursive essentializing in a woman-owned and operated business accomplished simultaneous agendas of power and resistance. Utilizing Foucault’s (1980) conceptualization of power and resistance and Fuss’s (1989) and Spivak’s (1988) views of essentializing as a political move, the author illustrates how the performance of gendered stereotypes, rather than having expected negative consequences, allowed organizational members to suppress conflict and to reproduce the owners’ concept of the ideal workplace for women. The women’s essentializing discourse created a community of support, flexibility, and loyalty while simultaneously suppressing dissent and strategically subordinating the employees’ interests to the owners to achieve larger goals for themselves in the long term.
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