Gender, Symbolism and Organizational Cultures

This study explores the "symbolic order" of gender in organizations - looking at how gender relations are culturally and discursively produced and reproduced, and how they might be done "differently". The focus is upon the relations between gender, power and culture in organizations, and upon the need to come to grips with the pervasive, elusive and ambiguous nature of gender in work settings. Two metaphors are introduced: the sexual contract, which centres on the sexuality of organizations and "static" gender difference; and the alchemic wedding, which highlights a plurality of cultural models of femaleness and woman/work relationships, and processes of "dynamic" difference, transformation and transcendence. The examination of the construction of gender relations in the workplace is continued through a series of stories, which also draw upon various symbolic archetypes as forms of cultural expression. The last section of the study looks at possibilities for change, developing a concept of different forms of gender citizenship of organizations.