Girls,women,others and organisations

Bernardine Evaristo’s 2019 Booker Prize-winning novel ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ offers insights into the experiences, identity processes, struggles and achievements of 12 people of colour in the United Kingdom. The selection of the book’s title is commendable as it embodies the characters’ experiences, which are pervaded by chrononormativity – defined elsewhere by Freeman (2010) as the application of time to manage and regulate individual human bodies to maximise production – and Othering, as theorised by Said (1978). The characters’ Othering results from the intersecting dimensions of race, class, age, gender identity and sexual identity. Through ‘fusion fiction’, termed by Evaristo to describe the writing style characterised by lengthy sentences and the absence of full stops, the novel portrays the intertwined voices and lives of the characters across the 20th and 21st centuries. They navigate Eurocentric environments characterised by racism, sexism and chrononormativity.

The novel comprises five chapters and an epilogue. The first chapter portrays intergenerational differences in an apparently progressive and revolutionary manner, as seen through the perspectives of Amma (a Queer playwright), Dominique (Amma’s Queer friend) and Yazz (Amma’s rebellious daughter). The second chapter shows the complicated relationships between Bummi (a first-generation immigrant single mother), Carole (Bummi’s White-assimilated successful daughter) and LaTisha (Carole’s friend who conforms to racial stereotypes). The third chapter presents Shirley (a Black teacher who succumbs to internalised racism), Winsome (Shirley’s first-generation immigrant mother) and Penelope (Shirley’s racist colleague).

The fourth chapter portrays Megan/Morgan (who forges their own gender identity after leaving an unsupportive family), Hattie (Morgan’s great-grandmother who bequeathed them her property as a welcome space for transgender individuals) and Grace (Hattie’s mother who married a White man who exoticised her). Through the presentation of these complex character triads across the four chapters, Evaristo offers a rich conceptual terrain for scholarship on organisation and organising by ingeniously narrating experiences that include intergenerational conflict, cultural assimilation, stereotype confirmation, internalised racism, exoticisation, gender expression and sense of belonging, inter alia. The author also portrays her Black characters as resilient individuals who gradually overcome experiences such as rape, drug abuse and depression through sheer willpower.

The last chapter unfolds during the after-party following the premiere of Amma’s ‘The Last Amazon of Dahomey’ at the prestigious and mainstream National Theatre in London. The play is created for, about and by Black women and non-binary individuals. The after-party subsequently serves to connect Evaristo’s multifaceted characters as allies, each with their own individual yet interconnected experiences. The epilogue reveals that Penelope, initially assumed to be white, is actually Hattie’s daughter, whom she placed for adoption after a teenage pregnancy.

While ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ portrays various distinct concepts, as previously stated, this review specifically focuses on chrononormativity – a concept that is seldom addressed in the field of organisation and management. Chrononormativity encapsulates temporal norms constructed by influential social actors and launched into society as conventions, dictating to individual human bodies the ‘right time’ to do the ‘right thing’ (e.g. the right time to enter the job market or to get married). Evaristo provides the reader with a comprehensive understanding of how chrononormativity structures, constrains and disrupts social realities, notably those of Black and Queer individuals, who are historically susceptible to underrepresentation and discrimination due to their intersectional identities.

Furthermore, Evaristo portrays how macro-level cultural, social, political, economic or temporal contexts associated with chrononormativity shape the characters’ experiences. The reader observes this, for example, when Shirley is apparently treated as a ‘relic’ or ‘irrelevant antiquity’ by the younger teachers at the school where she works (Evaristo, 2019: 239). In accordance with the chrononormative perspectives inherent in the education profession, older teachers are expected to retire. This is despite Shirley’s passion, experience and capability to continue her profession. While Shirley challenges such chrononormative expectations by continuing to work, the ‘assimilated’ Carole is accommodative of such social dictates regarding her banking profession. Thus, she aligns her lifestyle with that of the White and high-class highflyers with whom she works and socialises. Notwithstanding, Evaristo shows that in both instances, because the characters belong to multiple disadvantaged social categories simultaneously, they are still perceived as the Other. Their positions are defined by an assumed inferiority or alienness in relation to the dominant White group within a society shaped by chrononormativity.

The characters face stigma, exclusion and oppression due to them being different from the perceived ‘norm’, often characterised as ‘White, thin, male, young, heterosexual, Christian, and financially secure’ (Lorde, 1984: 116, as cited in Strauss, 2023). This is compounded by how most of Evaristo’s characters experience and perceive time differently from the anticipated norm. Their lives do not follow the linear, sequential progression (Taylor, 2010) that forms the basis of chrononormativity. ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ highlights this nonconformity and its repercussions on the characters through their conversations. The discussions allow the reader to understand the intricate relationships between discrimination, the characters’ positions in social stratification, their departure from normative social temporalities and the consequences thereof.

To further elaborate, the characters’ experiences are marked by struggles with conforming to heteronormative, westernised, masculinised trajectories and dilemmas arising from reconciling their multiple identity positions, which often conflict with each other. For instance, the Queer playwright Amma refuses to formalise her relationships within the supposedly hegemonic institution of gay marriage. However, she maintains an arguably hegemonic co-parenting arrangement with her gay sperm donor friend. Amma’s motherhood and unmarried status co-exist despite these dilemmas, thus disrupting the dogmatic time conceptualisations (Freeman, 2010) prescribing that marriage is a milestone preceding parenthood (Dinshaw et al., 2007). Appropriately, the novel oscillates between the characters’ past, present and future, employing a non-linear narrative style.

For organisational and management scholars, exploring the concept of chrononormativity may provide fertile ground for theorisation. This perspective is based on the understanding that in organisations, chrononormative assumptions produce and maintain trajectories that advocate a ‘right time’ for career progression, promotions, flexible work arrangements (Riach et al., 2014), marital decisions, parenthood and retirement, among other life choices. However, chrononormativity may often lead to disadvantages for minority groups, such as non-heteronormative employees, granted that not everyone can or does adhere to the same timeline or meet the Eurocentric conventional benchmarks of career success (Sánchez-Palencia, 2022). Evaristo demonstrates through her characters that non-heteronormative employees often follow different timelines than those considered the ‘norm’ and still become ‘successful’ in their careers, even in their later life stages.

By spotlighting the characters’ identity tensions and paradoxes within the framework of a primarily Western, White, male-driven chrononormative society, Evaristo prompts readers to reflect on the extent to which organisations can and should adapt to address inequalities rather than enforcing employees to ‘fit in’. Non-heteronormative (and non-White) employees are often compelled to negotiate the terms of their existence and shape subjectivities that seem plausible to their heteronormative colleagues or environment (Riach et al., 2014) within a chrononormative context. Similar to Carole’s situation, they attempt to conform by hiding their identities and assimilating into the norm, which is eventually detrimental to the concerned employees, and further amplifies organisational inequalities.

Chrononormativity can thus simultaneously serve as both the cause and consequence of systemic discrimination, embodied in unfair rules, policies and strategies, bigoted cultural norms and practices, and prejudiced social interactions (Maver, 2020). While Evaristo sheds light on these issues through fiction, their potential significance for deeper theorisation and practice within the domain of management and organisation studies cannot be overstated.

A significant strength of the novel lies in its ability to seamlessly juxtapose individual yet interconnected experiences and unveil the unseen dynamics within a group of Black (heterosexual, homosexual, non-gender binary) bodies, portraying them as both vulnerable and resilient actors within a chrononormative society. Most of the characters seem to embrace their diversity, deviance and Other-ness, despite the fact that chrononormative expectations often result in stereotyping and systemic discrimination against non-heteronormative Others. Evaristo brings this to light through social interactions (e.g. by portraying LaTisha, who is fatherless and considered as likely to succumb to crime or teenage pregnancy, even by her Black teacher) and work settings (e.g. by depicting Carole as someone furiously striving to assimilate, with the desire to fit in with her mostly White classmates and colleagues).

However, a potentially challenging dimension of the novel is its didactic nature, which may occasionally render it difficult for some readers to relate to the multifaceted experiences depicted. ¹ The characters’ voices appear to blend with each other without clear demarcation, owing to the absence of punctuation. Therefore, at times, the characters’ voices are indistinguishable from each other, which makes reading the novel rather cumbersome. Nonetheless, to some extent, the blending of voices suggests that the characters may be speaking with the same voice, potentially reinforcing a collective identity. The use of free verses and the absence of full stops appear to accentuate their candour.

One might conclude that ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ achieves what an effective feminist manifesto must do, namely, assertively speaking out. Therefore, the recognition that the novel not only received the Booker Prize and won numerous awards but also earned acclaim from various reviewers and readers, including Barack Obama and Roxane Gay, attests to its strengths. In conclusion, I recommend this book to organisational researchers and practitioners as a valuable resource that introduces and exemplifies chrononormativity as experienced by Others. This recommendation is despite the observation that the novel does not reflect the experiences of all Black women, women of colour or non-binary bodies, which to be fair, it does not claim to do either.