What can we learn about women’s organizational challenges by talking to men about gender roles and work-life? We attend to this question through an interview study with male executives, providing a close interpretive analysis of their talk about employees, wives, children, the division of domestic labor, and work-life policy. The study illustrates how executives’ tacit hesitancy about women’s participation in organizational life is closely connected to preferred gendered relationships in the private sphere. The case reveals a story of meaning in movement—aversive sexism marked by flickers of transformation—demonstrating how talk can both reveal and disrupt enduring gender scripts, and why hearing male voices is integral to addressing women’s work-life dilemmas.
Aberson, C.L. ( 2007). Diversity experiences predict changes in attitudes toward affirmative action. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13, 285-294.
2.
Adler, P.A., & Adler, P. ( 1987). Membership roles in field research. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
3.
Alberts, J., & Trethewey, A. ( 2007). Love, honor and thank. Greater Good, 4, pp. 20-22.
4.
Andreassi, J., & Thompson, C. ( 2004). Work-family culture. Sloan Work and Family Research Network . Retrieved May 13, 2008, from http://wfnetwork.bc.edu/encyclopedia_entry.php?id=262
5.
Ashcraft, K.L. ( 1999). Managing maternity leave: A qualitative analysis of temporary executive succession. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44, 240-280.
6.
Ashcraft, K.L., & Mumby, D.K. ( 2004). Reworking gender: A feminist communicology of organization . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
7.
Babcock, L., & Lavaschever, S. (2003). Women don’t ask: Negotiation and the gender divide. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
8.
Balsam, K.F., Rothblum, E.D., Beauchaine, T.P., & Solomon, S.E. ( 2008). Three-year follow-up of same-sex couples who had civil unions in Vermont, same-sex couples not in civil unions, and heterosexual married siblings. Developmental Psychology, 44, 102-116.
9.
Barnett, R.C., Marshall, N.L., & Pleck, J.H. ( 1992). Men’s multiple roles and their relationship to men’s psychological distress. Journal of Marriage and Family, 54, 358-367.
10.
Belkin, L. ( 2003, October 26). The opt-out revolution. The New York Times, pp. 42-47, 58, 85-86. Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/26/magazine/26WOMEN.html?ei=5007&en=02f8d75eb63908e0&ex=1382500800&pagewanted=1
11.
Belkin, L. ( 2008, June 15). "When mom and dad share it all."New York Times Magazine Online. Retrieved June 15, 2008, from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/magazine/15parenting-t.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5070&en=b08cd6b54559ebe3&ex=1213934400&emc=eta1
12.
Bond, J.T., Thompson, C., Galinsky, E., & Prottas, D. ( 2002). Highlights of the national study of the changing workforce executive summary. New York: Families and Work Institute. Available at www.familiesandwork.org
13.
Butera, K.J. ( 2006). Manhunt: The challenge of enticing men to participate in a study of friendship. Qualitative Inquiry, 12, 1262-1282.
14.
Buzzanell, P.M. ( 2005). The good working mother: Managerial women’s sensemaking and feelings about work-family issues. Communication Studies , 56, 261-285.
15.
Buzzanell, P.M., & Goldzwig, S.R. (1991). Linear and nonlinear career models: Metaphors, paradigms, and ideologies. Management Communication Quarterly, 4, 466-505.
16.
Buzzanell, P.M., & Liu, M. ( 2005). Struggling with maternity leave policies and practices: A poststructuralist feminist analysis of gendered organizing. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 33, 1-25.
17.
Buzzanell, P.M., & Turner, L.H. ( 2003). Emotion work revealed by job loss discourse: Backgrounding-foregrounding of feelings, construction of normalcy, and (re)instituting of traditional masculinities. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 31, 27-57.
18.
Charmaz, K. ( 2001). Grounded theory. In R. M. Emerson (Ed.), Contemporary field research (pp. 335-352). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
19.
Chethik, N. ( 2006). VoiceMale: What husbands really think about their marriages, their wives, sex, housework and commitment. New York: Simon & Schuster.
20.
Ciabatarri, T. ( 2007). Single mothers, social capital, and work-family conflict . Journal of Family Issues, 28, 34-60.
21.
Clarkberg, M. ( 2007). The time-squeeze in American families: From causes to solutions (Report for the Department of Labor, Futurework series). Retrieved October 14, 2009, from http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/herman/reports/futurework/conference/families/workhours.htm
22.
Collinson, D.L. ( 1992). Managing the shop floor: Subjectivity, masculinity, and workplace culture. New York: De Gruyter.
23.
Coltrane, S. ( 1996). Family man: Fatherhood, housework, and gender equity . New York: Oxford University Press .
24.
Coltrane, S. ( 2004). Elite careers and family commitment: It’s (still) about gender. Annals AAPSS, 596, 214-220.
25.
Conaway, C.L. ( 2005). Paying the price: How family choices affect career outcomes . Regional Review, 1, 26-29.
26.
Corra, M., & Willer, D. ( 2002). The gatekeeper. Sociological Theory, 20, 180-207. Correll, S.J., Benard, B., & Paik, I. (2007). Getting a job: Is there a motherhood penalty?American Journal of Sociology, 112, 1297-1338.
27.
Crittenden, A. ( 2002). The price of motherhood: Why the most important job in the world is still the least valued. New York: Henry Holt.
28.
Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Schneider, B. ( 2000). Becoming adult: How teenagers prepare for the world of work. New York: Basic Books.
29.
Deetz, S., Tracy, S.J., & Simpson, J.L. ( 2000). Leading organizations through transition: Communication and cultural change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
30.
Doucet, A. ( 2004). "It’s almost like I have a job, but I don’t get paid": Fathers at home reconfiguring work, care, and masculinity. Fathering, 2, 277-303.
Dovido, J.F., Gaertner, S.L., Kawakami, K., & Hodson, G. ( 2002). Why can’t we just get along: Interpersonal bias and interracial distrust. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 8, 88-102.
33.
Drew, E., & Murtagh, E.M. ( 2005). Work/life balance: Senior management champions or laggards ? Women in Management Review, 20, 262-278.
34.
Eckel, S. ( 2009, May). Thirty years of working mothers: The good, the bad, and the best of office policies, culture and family life. Working Mother Magazine. Retrieved July 29, 2009, from http://www.workingmother.com/web?service=direct/1/ViewArticlePage/dlinkFullArticle&sp=S2135&sp=118
35.
Erard, M. ( 2007). Um- slips, stumbles, and verbal blunders and what they mean. New York: Pantheon Books.
36.
Fairhurst, G.T., & Putnam, L.L. ( 2004). Organizations as discursive constructions. Communication Theory, 14, 5-26.
37.
Federico, C.M., & Sidanius, J. ( 2002). Sophistication and the antecedents of Whites’ racial policy attitudes: Racism, ideology, and affirmative action in America. Public Opinion Quarterly, 66, 145-176.
38.
Friedman, S.D., & Lobel, S. ( 2000). The happy workaholic: A role model for employees. Academy of Management Executive, 17, 87-98.
39.
Gaertner, S.L., & Dovido, J.F. ( 2005). Understanding and addressing contemporary racism: From aversive racism to the common ingroup identity model. Journal of Social Issues, 61, 615-639.
40.
Galinsky, E., & Bond, J.T. ( 2009). The impact of the recession on employers (Families and Work Institute Report). Retrieved October 14, 2009, from http://familiesandwork.org/site/research/reports/Recession2009.pdf
41.
Galinsky, E., Salmond, K., Bond, J.T., Kropf, M.B., Moore, M., & Harrington, B. (2003). Leaders in a global economy: A study of executive women and men (Families and Work Institute, Executive Summary). Retrieved October 14, 2009, from http://familiesandwork.org/site/research/summary/globalsumm.pdf
42.
Giddens, A. ( 1984). The constitution of society: An outline of the theory of structuration. Cambridge, MA: Polity.
43.
Golden, A.G. ( 2007). Fathers’ frames for childrearing: Evidence toward a "masculine concept of caregiving." Journal of Family Communication , 7, 265-285.
44.
Golden, A.G., Kirby, E.L., & Jorgenson, J. ( 2006). Work-life research from both sides now: An integrative perspective for organizational and family communication. In C. Beck (Ed.), Communication yearbook, 30 (pp. 143-195). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
45.
Halpern, D.F., & Cheung, F.M. ( 2008). Women at the top: Powerful leaders tell us how to combine work and family. Malden, MA: Blackwell .
46.
Hass, L., & Hwang, P. ( 1995). Company culture and men’s usage of family leave benefits in Sweden. Family Relations, 44, 28-36.
47.
Hattery, A. ( 2001). Women, work, and family: Balancing and weaving. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
48.
Hewlett, S.A. ( 2007). Off-ramps and on-ramps: Keeping talented women on the road to success. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.
49.
Hewlett, S.A., & Luce, C.B. ( 2005). Off-ramps and on-ramps: Keeping talented women on the road to success. Harvard Business Review, 83, 43-54.
50.
Hill, E.J., Hawkins, A.J., Ferris, M., & Weitzman, M. ( 2001). Finding an extra day a week: The positive influence of perceived job flexibility on work and family life balance. Family Relations, 50, 49-58.
51.
Hochschild, A. ( 1997). The time bind: When work becomes home and home becomes work. New York: Metropolitan Books .
52.
Hrdy, S.B. ( 1999). Mother nature: A history of mothers, infants, and natural selection. New York: Pantheon Books .
53.
Institute for Women’s Policy Research. ( 2006). The gender wage ratio: Women’s and men’s earnings (IWPR#: C350). Retrieved October 14, 2009, from http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/C350.pdf
54.
Jablin, F.M. ( 2000). Organizational entry, assimilation, and disengagement/exit . In F. M. Jablin & L. L. Putnam (Eds.), The new handbook of organizational communication (pp. 732-818). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
55.
Judge, T.A., Boudreau, J.W., & Bretz, R.D., Jr. (1994). Job and life attitudes of male executives. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 767-782.
56.
Kaufman, G. ( 2005). Gender role attitudes and college students’ work and family expectations. Gender Issues, 22, 58-71.
57.
Keltner, D. ( 2009). Born to be good: The science of a meaningful life. New York: Norton.
58.
Kirby, E. ( 2000). Should I do as you say or do as you do? Mixed messages about work and family. Electronic Journal of Communication , 10(3-4). Retrieved October 15, 2009, from http://www.cios.org/www./ejcmain.htm
59.
Kirby, E. ( 2006). "Helping you make room in your life for your needs": When organizations appropriate family role. Communication Monographs, 73, 474-480.
60.
Kirby, E.L., & Krone, K.J. ( 2002). "The policy exists but you can’t really use it": Communication and the structuration of work-family policies. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 20, 50-77.
61.
Levine, K.J., & Hoffner, C.A. ( 2006). Adolescents’ conceptions of work: What is learned from different sources during anticipatory socialization? Journal of Adolescent Research, 21, 647-669.
62.
Lewis, S. ( 1997). "Family friendly" employment policies: A route to changing organizational culture or playing about at the margins. Gender, Work and Organization, 4, 13-23.
63.
Lockwood, N.R. ( 2003, June). Work/life balance: Challenges and solutions. Society for Human Resource Management, 2-11.
64.
Machung, A. ( 1989). Talking career, thinking job: Gender differences in career and family expectations of Berkeley seniors. Feminist Studies , 15, 35-58.
65.
McCall, L. ( 2001). Complex inequality: Gender, class and race in the new economy. New York: Routledge.
66.
Medved, C.E. ( 2007). Investigating family labor in communication studies: Threading across historical and contemporary discourses. Journal of Family Communication, 7, 225-243.
67.
Medved, C.E., Brogan, S.M., McClanahan, A.M., Morris, J.F., & Shepherd, G.J. (2006). Family and work socializing communication: Messages, gender, and ideological implications. Journal of Family Communication, 6, 161-180.
Myers, K.K., Jahn, J.L.S., Gailliard, B., & Stolzfus, K. ( 2009). Vocational anticipatory socialization (VAS) related to science and math: A model of academic and career interests. Paper presented to the International Communication Association , Chicago.
70.
Nelson, M.K. ( 2005). The social economy of single motherhood: Raising children in rural America. New York: Routledge .
71.
Nicholson, L. ( 1994). Interpreting gender. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 20, 79-105.
72.
Oliver, M.L., & Shapiro, T.M. ( 2006). Black wealth/White wealth: A new perspective on racial inequality. New York: Routledge .
73.
Parker, K.F., Dewees, M.A., & Radelet, M.L. ( 2002). Racial bias and the conviction of the innocent. In S. D. Westervelt & J. A. Humphrey (Eds.), Wrongly convicted: Perspectives on failed justice (pp. 114-133). Chapel Hill, NC: Rutgers University Press.
74.
Peterson, L.W., & Albrecht, T.L. (1999). Where gender/power/politics collide: Deconstructing maternity leave policy. Journal of Management Inquiry, 8, 168-181.
75.
Pini, B. ( 2005). Interviewing men: Gender and the collection and interpretation of qualitative data. Journal of Sociology, 4, 201-216.
76.
Renzetti, C., & Lee, R.M. ( 1993). The problem of researching sensitive topics: An overview and introduction. In C. M. Renzetti & R. M. Lee (Eds.), Researching sensitive topics (pp. 3-13). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
77.
Rich, E. ( 2005). Young women, feminist identities and neo-liberalism. Women’s Studies International Forum, 28, 495-508.
78.
Ridgeway, C., & Correll, S.J. ( 2004). Motherhood as a status characteristic. Journal of Social Issues, 60, 683-700.
79.
Roberts, S. ( 2005). Work/life no longer a "woman’s issue."Business Insurance, 39, 1-2. Available from www.deloitte.com
80.
Saucier, D.A., Miller, C.T., & Doucet, N. ( 2005). Differences in helping Whites and Blacks: A meta-analysis . Personality and Social Psychology Review, 9, 2-16.
81.
Schor, J.B. ( 1998). The overspent American: Upscaling, downshifting, and the new consumer. New York: Basic Books.
82.
Seelye, K.Q., & Bosman, J. ( 2008, June 13). Media charged with sexism in Clinton coverage . New York Times Magazine Online. Retrieved October15, 2009, from http:// www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/us/politics/13women.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
83.
Sharpe, S. ( 2001). Going for it: Young women face the future. Feminism Psychology, 11, 177-181.
84.
Simpson, J.L., & Kirby, E.L. ( 2006). "Choices" for whom? A White privilege/social class communicative perspective to The Opt-Out Revolution. Electronic Journal of Communication, 16. Retrieved October 15, 2009, from http://www.cios.org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/getfile/016315_EJC
85.
Stevenson, B.A. ( 2006). Confronting mass imprisonment and restoring fairness to collateral review of criminal cases. Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, 4, 339-367.
86.
Sullivan, O. ( 2000). The division of domestic labor: Twenty years of change ? Sociology, 34, 437-456.
87.
Tausig, M., & Fenwick, R. ( 2001). Unbinding time: Alternate work schedules and work-life balance. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 22, 101-119.
88.
Thomas, W.F. ( 2003). The meaning of race to employers: A dynamic qualitative perspective. Sociological Quarterly, 44, 227-242.
89.
Thompson, C., Beauvais, L., & Lyness, K. ( 1999). When work-family benefits are not enough: The influence of work-family culture on benefit utilization, organizational attachment, and work-family conflict. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 54, 392-415.
90.
Tracy, S.J. ( 2008). Care as a common good. Women Studies in Communication, 31, 166-174.
91.
Tracy, S.J., & Trethewey, A. ( 2005). Fracturing the real-self-fake-self dichotomy: Moving toward crystallized organizational identities. Communication Theory, 15, 168-195.
92.
Trethewey, A., Tracy, S., & Alberts, J. ( 2006). Crystallizing frames for work-life. Electronic Journal of communication, 16. Retrieved October 15, 2009, from http://www.cios.org/www./ejc/v16n34.htm
93.
Undheim, T.A. ( 2003). Getting connected: How sociologists can access the high tech elite. Qualitative Report, 8, 104-128.
94.
Weick, K.E. ( 2001). Making sense of the organization. Malden, MA: Blackwell Business.
95.
Wheaton, S. ( 2008, January 7). "Iron my shirt."New York Times Political Blog. Retrieved June 15, 2008, from http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/iron-my-shirt/
96.
Wilson, T.C. ( 2006). White’s opposition to affirmative action: Rejection of group-based preferences as well as rejection of Blacks. Social Forces, 85, 111-120.
97.
Your World With Neil Cavuto. (2008, January 4). Media matters for America. Retrieved June 15, 2008, from http://mediamatters.org/items/200801050004
