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Are Women in Management Victims of the Phantom of the Male Norm?
Author(s) -
Billing Yvonne Due
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
gender, work and organization
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.159
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1468-0432
pISSN - 0968-6673
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0432.2010.00546.x
Subject(s) - essentialism , norm (philosophy) , qualitative research , congruence (geometry) , sociology , psychology , gender studies , social psychology , epistemology , social science , philosophy
Managerial jobs have conventionally been understood as male and thus as not being directly suitable for women. The point of departure of this discourse is that women and men are different and that there is congruence between men and managerial jobs. On the basis of a qualitative study of women managers, I argue that there is a need for more sophisticated ways of appreciating the experiences of (many) women in relation to management. Variation, complexity and contradictions may be lost when holding onto essentialist understandings such as the male norm.