The godmother of gendered organizations: In celebration of the work of Joan Acker

Joan Acker can be considered the godmother of gendered organizations. In this paper, we reflect on the impact that Joan Acker's work has on our thinking and our careers as gender scholars in management and organization studies in Europe. First, we tell our personal stories of close encounters w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Gender, work, and organization work, and organization, 2019-12, Vol.26 (12), p.1763-1772
Main Authors: Benschop, Yvonne, Brink, Marieke
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advisors
Celebrations
Consultants
Equality
Gender
Gender inequality
gender regimes
Identity
Inequality
Joan Acker
layered notions of gender
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Organization studies
Organizational change
personal reflections on career
Race
Teaching
Work
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Summary:Joan Acker can be considered the godmother of gendered organizations. In this paper, we reflect on the impact that Joan Acker's work has on our thinking and our careers as gender scholars in management and organization studies in Europe. First, we tell our personal stories of close encounters with Joan Acker. Second, we highlight what we consider to be two key contributions of Joan Acker. The first are the interrelated gendered processes regarding structure, culture, interaction and identity from her work in the early 1990s, the second the notion of inequality regimes from her later work on the intersections of gender, class and race. We then discuss how Acker's work has been influential in our research on gendered organizations, and in our teaching when we use it in our explanations of the functioning of gender in organizations to students, and in our work as advisors and consultants for organizations interested in equality, diversity and inclusion. Finally, we elaborate on new directions building on Acker's work, especially in current theorizing on gender and diversity in organizational change.
ISSN:0968-6673
1468-0432
DOI:10.1111/gwao.12231