Feminism, Management and Self‐Actualization

Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs has had an enduring influence on management theory, both in and of itself and in past and present theories of employee motivation and performance. However, management theorists have not been the only ones to embrace Maslow's hierarchy. Betty Friedan also accepted and used it in The Feminine Mystique . Friedan seems to have been attracted to Maslow's theory because of his earlier research on women's self‐esteem and sexuality, research which was central to the development of the needs hierarchy. Thus, management theory and liberal feminist theory have a common base in Maslow's hierarchy and self‐esteem research. This paper analyzes that common base, beginning with an examination of the masculine and hierarchical bias in the needs hierarchy. Then, after establishing the link between the needs hierarchy and the self‐esteem research, the paper moves to an analysis of the latter, and demonstrates the ways in which it misinterpreted women's experience and sexuality and valued only those women with stereotypically masculine characteristics and behaviours. The paper concludes with a discussion of the effect of the acceptance of Maslow's ideas on the women in management literature.