Browsing by Author "Tuvikene, Maris"

This master’s thesis contributes to the limited research on gender equality discourses among elite occupational groups in Finland. The objective of the study is to examine how gender (in)equality is discursively constructed in the accounts of women middle managers. More specifically, it investigates which discourses are central in rationalizing gender (in)equality and analyses their implications on the visibility and legitimacy of gender inequalities. Theoretically, the study builds on feminist organizational sociology and especially on Joan Acker’s concept of ‘inequality regimes’. 8 semi-structured interviews with women middle managers form the material for the study. The interviewees work in the field of knowledge work in Finnish-based organizations. The interview data is constructed in interaction, with the researcher asking questions about gender and gender equality at work. Critical discourse analysis is used to understand how the discourses are used to resist or reproduce inequality. A meritocracy discourse and a diversity discourse emerged as central in rationalizing gender (in)equality, along with various postfeminist discursive moves. The meritocracy discourse drew from the rationale that skills and competence should be the basis of wages and advancement. The discourse was utilized to reveal gender-based discrimination or to counter affirmative action measures. The diversity discourse valued different social backgrounds as a business advantage. It was used to speak for the need to recruit people from different backgrounds and to emphasize the diversity of gender beyond a binary concept. The diversity discourse was also utilized to downplay gender equality as less important than other, more modern aspects of diversity. When diversity discourse was used to signify various personal differences, its potential impact on diversity or gender equality was lost. The postfeminist discursive moves, apparent throughout the data, minimized the significance of gender inequality in various ways, such as placing responsibility elsewhere or downplaying the relevance of gender in inequal situations. Overall, the postfeminist moves justified the existing situation. The results indicate how gender inequality is maintained discursively in organizations by legitimizing the status quo and not challenging systemic disadvantages. The role of women middle managers as proponents for gender equality is conflicted, as their position of relative power is constrained by managing gendered disadvantages in their career, the business-oriented logic of private sector organizations and by the difficult task of raising gender inequality as an issue in organizations where it is not deemed relevant. Change is possible if diversity is pursued by concrete actions and gender inequalities are not made light of, but raised as a significant topic in organizations, on its all levels.