‘A Blinding Lack of Progress’: Management Rhetoric and Affirmative Action

Gender, Work & Organization, Vol. 17, No. 6, November 2010

21 Pages Posted: 16 Sep 2011

See all articles by Susan Ainsworth

Susan Ainsworth

University of Melbourne - Department of Management

Angela Knox

The University of Sydney

Janine L. O'Flynn

University of Melbourne - School of Social and Political Sciences; Australia and New Zealand School of Government

Date Written: November 6, 2010

Abstract

In this study we explore how versions of organizational reality and gender are constructed in management discourse and whether such patterns change over time. Specifically, we examine management explanations and accounts of the gendered nature of their organizations through their commentaries on their affirmative action programmes. In Australia private sector organizations with 100 or more employees are required to report to government on their affirmative action programmes for women. In these documents, management representatives outline objectives for the coming year and report on their progress in reducing employment-related barriers for women. In doing so they account for the ‘problem’ of gender-based discrimination that affirmative action is designed to address, justify their actions (or lack of action) and reproduce versions of gendered identity. Thus we use affirmative action reporting as cases of management rhetoric to explore how aspects of gender and organization are constructed, taken for granted, challenged or problematized. Comparing reports from the hospitality sector over a 14-year period, we explore whether there is any evidence of discursive change in management accounts of the gendered nature of their organizations.

Keywords: gender, equality, management, affirmation action, rhetoric

JEL Classification: M00, M12

Suggested Citation

Ainsworth, Susan and Knox, Angela and O'Flynn, Janine L. and O'Flynn, Janine L., ‘A Blinding Lack of Progress’: Management Rhetoric and Affirmative Action (November 6, 2010). Gender, Work & Organization, Vol. 17, No. 6, November 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1762522

Susan Ainsworth

University of Melbourne - Department of Management ( email )

200 Leicester Street
Melbourne, Victoria 3053
Australia

Angela Knox

The University of Sydney ( email )

University of Sydney
Sydney, NSW 2006
Australia

Janine L. O'Flynn (Contact Author)

University of Melbourne - School of Social and Political Sciences ( email )

185 Pelham Street
Carlton, Victoria 3053
Australia

Australia and New Zealand School of Government ( email )

Level 4, 161 Barry Street
Carlton, Vic 3053
Australia

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