GENDER ORGANISATIONS THEORY - ASSIGNMENT SOLUTION

The gender organisational theory was developed by Joan Acker after observing the failure of the existing gender-based theories to analyse and provide an insightful explanation of the impact of gender in the organisation. The gender organisational theory posits that organisations and workplace interaction contain normative gender expectations that privilege men and oppress women. According to Acker (1990), integrating gender as an analytic category in understanding organisational culture and process is critical. The gender organisational theory is a systematic framework that focuses on the various gender-based factors and practices that create inequality between men and women. Indeed, adopting a gendered perspective in organisational analysis illuminates the bias, segregation, oppression, discriminations, and inequality created by patriarchy and male dominance in the workplace.

The concept of the gender organisational theory perceives the organisation as an extension of the society with inherent elements of the political sphere that demonstrate patriarchal systems. Therefore, understanding this theory calls for the scrutiny of the organisation as a power holding tool that promotes patriarchy by perpetrating male privileges. The organisation is an important avenue to understand gender inequality by analysing and understanding its practices and processes. A look at the career market illustrates that women cluster in a secondary labour market characterised by lower wages, uncertainty, short career ladder, and few benefits while men thrive in primary labour markets marked by greater economic rewards and high career prospects. The gendered organisational theory examines the occupational and job segregation as well as gender-based differences related to income, power, authority, status, and autonomy. Adopting a gendered analytical perspective is critical in understanding the role of the organisation in propagating gender inequalities and formulating policies that can help address the problem.

In conceptualizing gendered organisation, Acker (1990, p. 146) argues that an organisation is gendered when ‘‘advantage and disadvantage, exploitation and control, action and emotion, meaning and identity, are patterned through and in terms of a distinction between male and female, masculine and feminine.’’ This shows that the gendered organisation theory does not only help to understand gender inequality in the organisation or the workplace but also identifies the ways in which gender inequality is created, recreated, and maintained. The framework acknowledges that gender is a critical analytic unit that permeates organisational ideologies, practices, and symbols. The gendering of institutions occurs when the organisational structure categorise men and women into different realms based on the type of labour, acceptable behaviours, and emotions. This follows the construction of symbols and images such as language and culture to reinforce the segregation of men and women. This fosters the gendering process where individuals demonstrate gender symbols and images in interactions between men and women. The development of individual identities promotes and reinforces gendered outcomes that lead to the internalisation of gender-specific behaviours and scripts.