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Joan Acker Gendering Organizational Theory Summary

1170 Words5 Pages
The reading “Gendering Organizational Theory” written by Joan Acker analyzes the importance of implementing gendered organizations into the organization of public administration that integrate the role of women with neutrality. The author advocates for the usage of gender structures that advocates for gender-neutral character, job evaluation and the concept of abstract worker into the structure of complex organizations. Acker argued, “Jobs and hierarchies are represented as gender neutral, and every time such a job evaluation system is used, the notion of gender-neutral structure and the behavior based on that notion are re-created within the organization” (p. 425). The reading begins its discussion by mentioning the differences in treatment, society roles, and limitations and women face in their daily lives. Since the establishment of the roles of society, women have been entitled to feminine roles that focus on family and nurturing. This roles allows for the subordination of women in the workplace since it makes distinctions between ideological constraints between genders. This opens up for the construction of gendered processes, that focus on the placement of roles that only “women” are allowed to acquire because of their practices. The author makes the example of how the managers contribute to gender gap and placement of roles that do not allow for the advancement of women in an organization. Acker argued, “…the production of gender divisions. Ordinary organizational
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