Gendered Organizations: How Human Resource Management Practices Produce and Reproduce Administrative Man

Abstract

Despite the increasing number of women in the workforce, the norms surrounding division of labor in the domestic sphere and work/life balance have not changed. Structural theory predicts that balancing work and family demands will improve as the proportion of women reaches critical mass, because women will advocate on behalf of such changes. But work/life balance remains elusive. Gendered organizations theory predicts that norms and practices based on stereotyped male and female workers will persist, regardless of the composition of the workforce. Employing an explicitly transformative framework, we argue that human resources management (HRM) practices produce and reproduce outdated gender norms and frustrate the efforts of all workers to achieve work/life balance. No amount of flextime or on-site daycare programs will produce workplace equity without addressing the underlying reasons why organizations are gendered. We submit several propositions to guide further research and conclude with a call for public administrationists to interrogate purportedly neutral HRM practices like presenteeism from a feminist perspective.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sharon Mastracci

Sharon Mastracci is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Utah. Her research examines the affective aspects of public service work. Her research on emotional labor with Mary Ellen Guy and Meredith Newman has resulted in numerous publications, including their 2008 book Emotional Labor: Putting the Service in Public Service. They are currently studying the effect of culture on the experience of emotional labor in public service work. Mastracci was a 2014–2015 Fulbright Scholar in the United Kingdom, and remains an associate at the Institute of Local Government Studies (INLOGOV), University of Birmingham (UK).

Veronica I. Arreola

Veronica I. Arreola is assistant director of the Center for Research on Women and Gender and director of the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). In 2011, WISE was recognized with a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. Arreola is a frequent speaker on all things feminist, especially education equity, reproductive justice, feminist parenting, and social media. She was named Woman of the Year by the UIC Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Women and has received a Chicago Foundation for Women's Impact Award, a Leadership Illinois Award, and a New Leaders Council 40 Under 40 Leadership Award.