No Change From Within: Senior women managers' response to gendered organizational structures

Abstract

The gendered nature of organizations has now been well established by feminist researchers. In particular, the most senior levels of management have been identified as sites of hegemonic masculinity; the causes of which are complex, socially reproduced inter-relationships that are highly resistant to change. While it has been argued that these structures will become less problematic as more women enter the paid workforce and more move into senior management, in this paper this argument is challenged. Recent research by the authors concerning women in the most senior ranks of management in the private sector in Australia suggests that, while the majority of these women identify the need for change, they have not used their role in senior management as a means of challenging gendered structures. The implications of the findings are that it is invalid to assume that change will come about through increasing numbers of women in management. Other means of challenging gendered organizational structures must be implemented, if quantifiable change is to come about.