CHALLENGES AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF FEMINISM TO ORGANIZATIONAL THEORIES

Introduction

Organisational theories have grown by leaps and bounds over the past few decades. This has been possible through the contributions of a series of researches and ideas into this subject. One such theory is known as feminism. The paper shall look at what feminism is, how it can be related to organizational theory and how it has applied to a number of organisations found both within the United Kingdom and outside. Finally, a summary will be given about how this theory has contributed towards the betterment of society as people know it today.

Context: definition of feminism
Lamont (2000) defines feminism in a number of ways. It can be regarded as a belief in the idea that both sexes are not treated equally in society with most cases being women who are systematically and frequently denied chances of taking part on social institutions. This author further adds that feminism must be backed by the need to eliminate that form of inequality. Additionally, feminism must be seen as something that creates a totally different way of looking at the genders in that women are not inferior beings. Consequently, feminism challenges old assumptions about the sexes.

Feminism can be treated in a number of ways. In certain circumstances, it may be seen as something that is a union of ideologies. This is because unlike many other beliefs, it can be an incorporation of both intellectual as well as social movements. Many experts have argued that feminism lacks objectivity and as such may not be regarded as a whole genus. However, this is besides the point; many other philosophies grew out of a postulation by a certain individual or expert. However, in the case of feminism, the idea grew out of the experiences and times of women. Consequently, one cannot be called a feminist if they do not demonstrate any sort of commitment to activism. Feminism must be a combination of ideology, philosophy and activism.

In other situations, feminism may be treated as a historical aspect. For example when one visits certain countries in Africa they are likely to see feminism as a fight against female circumcision. Additionally, it may be regarded as something that can be changed with time. In the United Kingdom and elsewhere, feminism was once regarded as a fight for equal property rights of women back in the twentieth century. However, today, feminism in the UK and other western countries may be regarded as the fight against institutionalized prejudices against the genders within organisations. In other words, feminism may have changed substantially over the years but all these historical moments have certain things in common; the commitment to reinforcing equality of the sexes. It should be noted that feminism should not be regarded as an ideology that attempts to eliminate men or women out of positions of power. Consequently, one must be able to recognise the fact that feminism understands the differences between men and women but seeks to look for ways in which these two genders can co-exist in harmony.

In other circumstances, feminism may be regarded as adjectival. In other words, one can regard themselves either as individualist or feminist. This means that one can subscribe to a number of feminist theories (literature indicates that there are about sixteen feminist theories). Consequently, there is a lot of freedom in feminism as a movement. This is because feminism allows for freedom of thought in that one can adhere to the core beliefs without necessarily subscribing to any branch.

Lastly, feminism can be regarded as a vanguard of equality. In other words, it may be deemed as a process of incorporating social equality and philosophical equality, this also implies that the law alone cannot be seen as the only solution. In reality, liberation must be seen as something that can be used to encourage human virtues for those who are willing to pursue them. This also means that feminism is a tool for liberty.

Concept: Feminist organisational theory
The Feminist organisational theory can be regarded as the merger of organisational theories and feminist ideals. In other words feminism is used to shape the experiences of women and men within the workplace. In the past, many organisations disregarded the role of gender in their operational processes. This is because organisations curved an identity of being gender neutral. However, social scientists have contributed towards organisation theory by bringing in the importance of gender equality and feminist ideologies. (Rowe-Finkbeiner, 2004)

It should be noted that feminism in organisations can be analysed through a series of filters. First of all, one can consider the role that it plays during organisational change. Many companies are increasingly being influenced by the forces of globalisation. Consequently, mergers and acquisitions are being conducted across the nations. It is possible to find a US based organisation operating in Africa or Asia. In these regions, the constructions of female and male roles are totally different from the ones in a western based organisation. Consequently, organisations that are preparing to change their respective locations need to account for the differences in gender based roles while doing this. This usually means that a company must be prepared to handle these differences. A good way of dealing with this is by curving out certain gender expectations. This can then be followed by a plan intended in challenging some of these gender roles through the most effective way possible. This may become increasingly difficult given the fact changing the way things are done in any given area may always prove to be a troublesome thing to do. Most of the kinds of issues that are needed to solve these respective problems may have to be incorporated into the overall organisational process.

Another challenge that organisations may have to deal with in relation to feminist principles is the overrepresentation of women in low paying jobs. In the UK, some organisations have tried their best to allow women to rise up the ranks, however, one cannot ignore the fact that this gender seems to be overly prevalent in the former category. Consequently this is a depiction that there may be certain structural issues that are hampering equality within the workplace. Feminists assert that organisations must take actions to curb out these seeming inequalities and thus encourage greater cooperation amongst their employees. (Hochschild, 2001)

It should also be noted that when one is considering dealing with feminist related issues, one must not make assumptions about the role of women in the workplace. Many individuals assume that women’s roles have actually improved rather than deteriorated over the years. But statistically speaking, the opposite is in fact true. Facts and figures indicate the fact that many women have managed to climb up the ranks. However, most of these numbers are not as high as they were some time ago. Worse still, many women have still not managed to cross the low income segment. This indicates that society cannot be eliminated from the organisation. When certain concepts are highly prevalent outside, then it is likely that those concepts may be carried forward into the organisation. If there is no force applied into dealing with these issues, then chances are that those societal biases may be perpetuated into a certain company and this may bring about a lot of friction within members of the organisation. Care should be taken by companies to prevent any sort of passivity when dealing with the gender issues. Consequently, most of the problems must be dealt with adequately using this approach. (McElroy, 2002)

Any discussion of the feminism organisational theory cannot be fully complete without consideration of the role that work-life balance plays in minimising these discourses. In the United Kingdom and other first world countries, great emphasis has been given to increasing the numbers of female employees within the labour force. However, in order to effectively achieve this, then there must be creation of an effective environment to boost this. Feminists have been on the forefront of challenging companies to deal with the issue of work life balance. Some of the recommendations that have been given include
• Greater flexibility
• Balance of work time
• Content of work
• Choice in the workplace
• Effect of work on employees’ private life
• Less constraint in work
• Holiday packages

All the latter suggestions have been made yet data indicates that seemingly pro-active countries such as France, Ireland and Norway are yet to deal with broader feminist issues. For instances, these countries have not yet drafted measures that would encourage greater choice for women within the workplace. Most organisations tend to go around this issue by dwelling on other gender related matters. It should also be noted that in the latter countries, the issue of maintaining balance between urgent project work and the needs of the private individual have become highly controversial. Many developed nations are increasing the amount of pressure that they are placing upon their employees and this has caused the latter group to have borderless. This is especially difficult for women because they have additional issues that they must tackle. (Stokes, 2000)

It should also be noted that another school of though put forward by members of the post feminist school of thought is that in an effort to create better working conditions that can restore work life balance, there is a need for companies to pass policies and practices that reflect gender neutrality. The latter adherents claim that if these groups want to portray equality, then they must reduce work times for both sexes than just dwelling on women. Concepts such as paternal leave are also highly welcome because this sends out the message that both employees are in need of maintaining their personal as well as their professional lives.

Cases
Certain researches have focused on the application of feminist organisational theories. For instance, a research conducted by Liberti & Craig (2008) focused on the applicability of this concept (feminist organisational theory) within a gym. The Gym was called Get Fit and it was a women’s only gym. The authors found that this was not just utilised as an institution for fitness, but it was also used as a place for creating a sense of community ownership. By restricting their membership to women only, this gym was able to create an identity for itself among its competitors. In other words, this organisation was able to achieve commercial benefits while at the same time spearhead some feminist ideologies within the organisation.

Additionally, feminism within the Get Fit organisation was an avenue that the participants could utilise to get comfort. This means that it is indeed possible for one to be able to encourage certain forms of behaviour while at the same time discourage others through the incorporation of business ideas. The gym was able to produce a sense of comfort to most of the participants because it was bold enough to face popular sentiments about feminism and its misinterpretation. Currently, many gyms are designed for both sexes. This may meet some objections among certain members but among others, it creates a sense of insecurity. When women are required to train in the same place and using the same facilities as men, some of them find that they are feeling out of place. This is especially the case when the women are inexperienced. It creates a sort of inequality because men and women cannot be treated as physically similar. Also, the kind of exercises that men carry out may be extremely difficult for women or they may be out of the question altogether. In order to accommodate these gender differences within such physically oriented organisations, companies must place a lot of emphasis on additional support.

Consequently, by having a women only gym, the company was able to reinforce the logic in having a clearly gender differentiated organisation. There were a series of ways in which feminism was used in this organisation i.e. through
• Its rule
• Its labour
• Technology

The tools and equipment used in this gym were largely those ones that would be easily used by women. Some of the policies of equipment were designed solely for women’s use. Consequently Get Fit enforced feminist models practically through their technology. Besides this, it was also possible to spread feminist ideals through the use of labour. Only women were allowed to work within this organisation and most of them were used to enforce the rules of the organisation. Lastly, the organisation used the aspect of an official rule. It asserted that women are the only group that are allowed. By having such a bold rule, then the organisation was trying to show that it did indeed hold feminist ideals. (Barbara , 2002)

Despite all the feminist ideals, one must ignore the fact that a lot of labour was put into creating such an image. In fact, the success of this feminist idea of the Gym depended on the ability of the company to hide the issue of labour within their company. They wanted to portray to their clientele that their employees are not doing their work for pay; instead, they are doing it as part of the community. Most of the employees were trained to be warm towards the clients. They were also supposed to create an image of spontaneity in their service delivery because this would contribute towards the believability of the idea.

Additionally, the manner in which the exercise program was carried out also corresponded to this idea. Most of the equipment were arranged in a non geometrical manner. This was done so as to create a sense of cooperation amongst them. Clients were expected to wait for one another while making use of some of their respective equipments. Consequently, one had to look for the most appropriate kind of methodology in coping with these problems. The main idea behind these ideas was that there should be very little competition between members of the gym. Doing this eradicated all the insecurities that members were undergoing while in the conventional gyms that had both men and women. (McRobbie, 2004)

By looking at the Get Fit organisation, it can be seen that feminist and organisational aspirations may sometimes contradict one another. This is because of the fact that there are certain invisible elements that can be easily misunderstood. For instance, employees are made to look like sociable individual rather than paid labour. Additionally, companies must look for ways of hiding all the efforts that they had put into creating the feminist organisation that draws clients directly as a result of the latter quality. The spontaneity that is synonymous with such as an organisation is actually something that has been worked on.

It should also be noted that there may be scenarios in which there are gender divisions within a specific organisation. Many companies within the country and in other parts of the world practice this. This usually characterised by the following
• Partnering in jobs
• Hierarchical systems
• Gender power
• Subordination

Partnering may sometimes by organised to enforce feminist ideals, this is usually the case in cases where a balance of genders must be taken into consideration when giving out certain roles. However, gender division may also be negative where hierarchical systems are directly linked to certain genders. This is especially the case in male dominated professions such as the military. Research has also shown that women who rise up the ranks in a series of public institutions such as education, health etc are much fewer than their counterparts, Feminism challenges these notions by asserting that there needs to be positive reinforcement in this regard. Additionally, cases of subordination must also be carefully played out in organisations in order to eliminate the occurrence of these biases.

In certain organisations, there may be images and symbols that reinforce gender divisions within any one area. Consequently, some of the problems faced in this regard may have to accommodate these concepts. (McRobbie, 2004)

Connection: How the feminist organisational theory is expressed in most organisations
Most organisations are currently changing their perspectives towards gender issues. This is largely as a result of the shift from vertically integrated management system to more interactive organisations. In the latter scenarios, the role of gender is given more attention and this therefore provides room of feminist ideals.

Conclusion
Feminism organisational theory can be applied through a series of methodologies. Some of them include the promotion of feminist ideals through the use of gender exclusive organisations. In other scenarios, it can be seen through promotion of work life balance. Others believe that it needs to be enhanced through elimination of gender biased symbols and hierarchical systems. The overall similarity that all these manifestations have is the belief in equality for all genders with specific emphasis on females.

Reference

Lamont, G. (2000): What is feminism; Free Radical Report, NO. 40
Craig, M. & Liberti, R. (2008): Forgoing community and Shaping gender in a women’s gym; American Sociological Association Paper, 11th August
Rowe-Finkbeiner, K. (2004): The F-Word: Feminism In Jeopardy - Women, Politics and the Future; Seal Press
Hochschild, A. (2001): The time bind: when work becomes home and home becomes work; Henry Holt & Co.
Barbara J. (2002): The Feminist Difference: Literature, Psychoanalysis, Race and Gender; Harvard University Press
McElroy, W. (2002): Liberty for Women: Freedom and Feminism in the 21st century; Ivan Dee, Publisher.
Stokes, J. (2000): Eleanor Marx (1855-1898): life, work, contacts; Ashgate
Bebel, A. (2004): Woman Under Socialism; University Press of the Pacific.
McRobbie, A. (2004): Post-feminism and popular culture; Feminist Media Studies,4:3, 264

The author of this article is a holder of Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard University and currently pursing PhD Program. He is also a professional academic writer. ResearchPapers247.Com>