Abstract
Has feminism really empowered women and reduced discrimination? What is the effect of misogyny as an element of management theory? What have feminist voices done for us? How can feminism aid in the development of more inclusive organizations? How can feminist theory act as a resource to teach about ethics and justice? These are only some of the riveting questions that Marianna Fotaki and Nancy Harding raise in their book, Gender and the Organization: Women at Work in the 21st Century. Drawing inspiration from some of the most important feminist and gender theorists, such as Judith Butler, Bracha Ettinger, and Rosi Braidotti, Fotaki and Harding argue that feminist theory ‘can help us understand how dominant cultural practices are an inherent part of the existing power relations that a given society supports through deploying a variety of discursive and affective means’ (p. 2). Furthermore, they identify the pressing need to not only think differently about organizations but also change the ways in which we write in and about them.
The first chapter introduces readers to the most germane ideas of the book. This chapter focuses on the reasons why feminism has not ceased to be relevant while highlighting the power of discourse. The authors also reflect on the need of having feminist theories incorporated in organization studies literature in order to enrich its perspectives. Poststructuralist gender theory and psychoanalytic approaches to feminism in organizations are offered to foreground the ideas presented in the book. These perspectives are developed throughout the text alongside critical engagements with cultural representations of feminism in film and art.
Chapters 2–6 present different aspects of feminism. Chapter 2 focuses on women in academia by examining how ‘the language available to women to speak about themselves incorporates, in a truly performative fashion, the very tools that demean them’ (p. 31). This is one of the most meaningful contributions of the book since it touches upon how women, who have long struggled for their rights, still have to contest culturally embedded stereotypes while dealing with the idea that failure to succeed remains their own responsibility. Academia sets a not only suitable but also thought-provoking scenario since even in the realm of some of the most educated people, ‘women have to work harder and achieve far more than their male colleagues if they are to be judged as equals to men’ (p. 39). In Chapter 3, Fotaki and Harding juxtapose feminist theories against Lacan’s work in order to find practices that might result in modifying the symbolic order in organizations through ‘changing social relations’ (p. 73) and, thereby, move toward women’s liberation. Chapter 4 explores how women are still expected to, somehow hide what physically signifies their sex so that they can be taken seriously; thus, leading the authors to read, ‘the female’s suit [as] a chastity belt’ (p. 95). Chapter 5 focuses on what various gender issues mean for women from other cultures and countries than those of the authors; this is particularly meaningful since most feminist theories have been developed in Western countries and cater to the needs and interests of Western women. In this chapter, intersectionality and transnationalism become the focal point since ‘earlier presumptions of the homogeneity of women’s experiences are now regarded as naïve and politically dangerous’ (p. 101). Chapter 6 engages with feminist ethics providing a framework of nomadic minoritarian ethics, which is ‘post human in its life-affirmation as it de-centers anthropomorphism and connects all living and non-living matter’ (p. 132). In order to make these affirmations, the authors state that it is not possible to understand ethics without considering ‘the body as the site of experience making and the locus of life’ (p. 148).
Fotaki and Harding conclude on a provocative note, ultimately stating that ‘feminism is not just for women’ (p. 188). This conclusion is posited in an inviting manner so that the ideas that they develop through the book are not only to be part of a feminist-centered discussion but that they can also be incorporated to organization studies as a whole.
Gender and the Organization offers rich theoretical insights and captures the ways in which women still struggle in organizations not only to find a place in a male-dominated society but to even find a misogyny-free language while ‘returning to the body’ (p. 162). The struggle is enhanced by the prevalent Cartesian dualism, which is to be challenged not only by women but also by everyone in academic forums. Fotaki and Harding specifically call readers not only to think but also to write differently and to consider how this would have an impact in organizations. They further make a call to consider how feminist theory does have an impact not only on women but also on everyone who works for a living. This book would be of much interest to researchers seeking to find a comprehensive and current perspective of feminism and the complex discourses involving intersectionality, transnationalism, embodiment, and ethics.
