Post-Heroic Leadership, Tempered Radicalism and Senior Leaders as Change Agents for Gender Equality

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the arguments that CEOs deploy in relation to gender equality. Design/methodology/approach Data is gathered from telephone interviews carried out with CEOs from a range of industries and global locations who have publicly declared their support for gender equality. Discourse analysis is then used to understand the arguments deployed by the CEOs. Findings Three winning arguments are identified: women bring special skills to the workplace, the best person should be hired for the job and biases and privilege exist in the workplace and need to be acknowledged. Practical implications Therefore CEOs could have more impact as change agents by focusing on changing gendered systems and structures in their arguments rather than holding on to beliefs centered around gender essentialism and merit. Originality/value This paper has an original approach in suggesting that senior leaders talk in relation to gender equality promotes continuity rather than change.

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Skirting Merit - Senior Leaders on Merit and Gender Equality (WITHDRAWN)

Academy of Management Proceedings ◽

10.5465/ambpp.2015.13464abstract ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2015 (1) ◽

pp. 13464

Author(s):

Elisabeth K Kelan ◽

Patricia Wratil

Keyword(s):

Gender Equality ◽

Senior Leaders ◽

And Gender

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Top women managers as change agents in the machista context of Mexico

Equality Diversity and Inclusion An International Journal ◽

10.1108/edi-08-2016-0065 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 321-339 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Salvador Barragan ◽

Mariana I. Paludi ◽

Albert Mills

Keyword(s):

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Gender Equality ◽

Women Managers ◽

Cultural Context ◽

Organizational Context ◽

Intervention Strategy ◽

Change Agents ◽

Organizational Level ◽

Content Type ◽

Promote Gender Equality

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on top women managers who act as change agents in the machista culture of Mexico. Specifically, the authors centre the attention not only on the strategies performed by these change agents to reduce inequality, but also on understanding the way in which they discursively reproduce or challenge essentialist notions of gender with respect to the cultural and organizational context. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 top women managers in Mexico who are actively involved as change agents. A feminist poststructuralist methodological framework using critical discourse analysis was used to uncover competing notions of gender and related strategies developed to promote gender equality. Findings The analysis reveals that the 12 change agents perform strategies for inclusion, and only half of them engage in strategies for re-evaluation. The authors were unable to recognize whether these change agents are engaged in strategies of transformation. These change agents also reproduce and challenge “essentialist” notions of gender. In some instances – based on their own career experiences and gendered identities – they (un)consciously have adopted essentialism to fit into the cultural context of machista society. They also challenge the gender binary to eradicate essentialist notions of gender that created gender inequalities in the first place. Research limitations/implications The experience of these 12 top women managers may not represent the voice of other women and their careers. Ultimately, intersections with class, organizational level, nationality, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation must be taken into account so to represent other women’s particular interests with respect to equality. Practical implications For those researchers-consultants who may be involved in an intervention strategy, it is important to focus on helping the change agents in reviewing and reflecting on their own “vision of gender equity”. During the strategic activities of mentoring and training, these change agents could potentially “leak” a particular “vision of gender” to other women and men. Thus, part of the intervention strategy should target the change agent’s self-reflection to influence her capacity to act as change agents. Originality/value The authors contribute to the literature on change agents and interventions for gender equality. Intervention strategies usually centre on essentialist notions of gender. The study offers potential explanations for this approach by paying attention to the process of how change agents, in their efforts to promote gender equality, may be unconsciously projecting their own identities onto others and/or consciously engaging in strategic essentialism to fit into the machista context of Mexico.

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Negotiating change for gender equality: identifying leverages, overcoming barriers

Investigaciones Feministas ◽

10.5209/infe.72319 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 297-308

Author(s):

Marcela Linkova ◽

Lut Mergaert

Keyword(s):

Capacity Building ◽

Gender Equality ◽

Science And Technology Studies ◽

Participant Observation ◽

Change Agents ◽

Organisational Change ◽

Value Systems ◽

Trading Zone ◽

Theoretical Contribution ◽

Barriers And Opportunities

Introduction. Institutional change through gender equality plans is today the dominant approach to promoting gender equality in higher education and research. Building on our experiences as “technical support partners” in several EU-funded projects, we reflect on how change is negotiated in a variety of contexts. Objectives. Theoretically, using Feminist Institutionalism and the Science and Technology Studies concept of the trading zone, our objective is to analyse institutional negotiations among various, differently positioned actors with diverse backgrounds, value systems and negotiating power. From a practice-oriented perspective, our aim is to demonstrate typical challenges, suggest pathways towards solutions, and identify specific negotiation skills which underscore the capacity-building needs of change agents. Methodology. For our analysis, we have selected eight information-rich case studies through purposive theory-based sampling, illustrating the different transactions in the trading zones, based on our prior knowledge of the circumstances. The methods we draw on are primarily participant observation and textual analysis of project documents. Results. The selected theoretical combination allows us to identify leverages, ways to overcome barriers and the required skills and competences. Specifically, we underscore the use of participatory and co-creation techniques, strategic framing, spotting and using windows of opportunity, and wide mobilisation of stakeholders. We highlight key features of the change process, including its processual and incremental nature, the need for constant negotiation and the capacity-building needs of change agents. Contribution. With this analysis, we contribute, firstly, to the understanding of organisational change by identifying concrete barriers and opportunities as well as considering the ways in which a shared representation of gender equality is developed. The second, theoretical contribution lies in combining Feminist Institutionalism and the concept of the trading zone, which allows us to bring to productive dialogue issues of power, processuality and the need to address both material and discursive enactments of change processes.

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Micro Change Agents for Gender Equality: Transforming European Research Performing Organizations

Frontiers in Sociology ◽

10.3389/fsoc.2021.741886 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

Author(s):

Jennifer Dahmen-Adkins ◽

Helen Peterson

Keyword(s):

Gender Equality ◽

Empirical Data ◽

Knowledge Exchange ◽

Change Agents ◽

European Research ◽

Collaborative Reflection ◽

Systematic Analysis ◽

Organizational Contexts ◽

Monitoring Tools ◽

Personal Motivation

This article explores the experiences of micro change agents for gender equality in seven European Research Performing Organizations in seven different countries. The micro change agents were all participants of an international collaborative project consortium, implementing gender equality plans (GEPs), and funded by the European Commission during 4 years. The analysis draws on empirical data consisting of information submitted by the micro change agents during these 4 years and collected using three different monitoring tools, developed within the project to follow the progress of the implementation efforts, but also to provide an arena for individual and collaborative reflection and knowledge exchange between the partners. The aim of the article is to present a systematic analysis of the change practices that these micro change agents experienced as useful and important for promoting gender equality in their different organizational contexts. A total of six such micro change practices are identified, emerging from the empirical data: 1. communicating, 2. community building, 3. building trust and legitimacy, 4. accumulating and using resources, 5. using and transferring knowledge, and 6. drawing on personal motivation. The findings illustrate the multifaceted character of micro change agency for gender equality, particularly in a time-limited project context with a designated funding period. The results from this study can be useful when developing gender equality strategies, policies and practices and can also be used to empower gender equality micro change agents that face challenges while trying to implement GEPs and promote structural change in any kind of institution.

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Daughter-mother perspectives on feminist activism in the academy

Organization ◽

10.1177/13505084211061237 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 135050842110612

Author(s):

Florence Reedy ◽

Kathryn Haynes

Keyword(s):

Gender Equality ◽

Academic Career ◽

Early Career ◽

Mutual Understanding ◽

Senior Leaders ◽

Feminist Activism ◽

Academic Activism ◽

Feminist Perspectives

This article addresses feminist solidarity between a daughter and a mother in academia. We are respectively a PhD student and aspirant early career academic, and a senior academic, both identifying as feminists and engaging in forms of activism to improve gender equality. We take an autoethnographical approach, drawing from vignettes and conversational dialogues, focusing on feminist perspectives, activism, our contested identities, fears and hopes. We reflect on the challenges of living feminist lives whilst working in gendered university institutions and highlight strategies to enact feminism whilst trying to progress and maintain an academic career at different positions on the career spectrum. Our contribution is to highlight differential experiences and understandings of academic activism between daughter and mother, early-career academics and senior leaders, in order to enhance mutual understanding and action on feminist solidarity and praxis in the academy.

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Servant Leaders as Change Agents

Journal of Social Change ◽

10.5590/josc.2018.10.1.01 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Janice P. Tanno ◽

David K. Banner

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Employee Engagement ◽

High Performance ◽

Ethical Decision ◽

Ethical Decision Making ◽

Change Agents ◽

Senior Leaders ◽

Conceptual Foundation ◽

Building Community ◽

The One

Servant leadership (SL) produces high performance and employee engagement. Non-SL senior leaders lacking business ethics have caused negative outcomes. This study explored the lived experiences of senior leaders’ decision-making in SL organizations. Maslow’s theories, decision theory, spirituality, Cicero’s virtue theory of ethics; SL comprised the theoretical/conceptual foundation. Data collection used purposive sampling of 18 senior leader participants in SL organizations employing Giorgi’s descriptive psychological structures of experiences analysis method. Findings confirmed ethical decision-making in SL organizations. Recommendations included examining CEO ethical leadership and firm performance interrelations and promoting ethical decision-making at all levels. Conclusions supported teamwork as the one structure of experience. Positive social change implications are an ethical capitalism that occurs by building community and SL organizations.

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