Special and Wise: The Paradoxical Nature of the Representation of Women in Management

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Author(s)
Boyle, Maree
Roan, Amanda
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2009
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Despite decades of academic enquiry into the under representation of women in management, leadership, and frequent calls for optimism invoked by the recognition of the skills and talents women bring to organisations, women's participation remains paradoxical. In this paper we discuss the paradoxical nature of 'wisdom' and gender within the modern organisation through the theoretical lens of the works of Carol Gilligan (1982) and Dorothy Smith (1987, 1990), particularly in relation to their work on moral decision-making, relations of ruling and bifurcated consciousness. We argue that while women have been seen to bring ...
View more >Despite decades of academic enquiry into the under representation of women in management, leadership, and frequent calls for optimism invoked by the recognition of the skills and talents women bring to organisations, women's participation remains paradoxical. In this paper we discuss the paradoxical nature of 'wisdom' and gender within the modern organisation through the theoretical lens of the works of Carol Gilligan (1982) and Dorothy Smith (1987, 1990), particularly in relation to their work on moral decision-making, relations of ruling and bifurcated consciousness. We argue that while women have been seen to bring a "special" kind of wisdom to organisations may lead to a hierarchical layering of legitimate organisational wisdoms.
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View more >Despite decades of academic enquiry into the under representation of women in management, leadership, and frequent calls for optimism invoked by the recognition of the skills and talents women bring to organisations, women's participation remains paradoxical. In this paper we discuss the paradoxical nature of 'wisdom' and gender within the modern organisation through the theoretical lens of the works of Carol Gilligan (1982) and Dorothy Smith (1987, 1990), particularly in relation to their work on moral decision-making, relations of ruling and bifurcated consciousness. We argue that while women have been seen to bring a "special" kind of wisdom to organisations may lead to a hierarchical layering of legitimate organisational wisdoms.
View less >
Conference Title
23rd ANZAM Conference 2009 - Sustainable Marketing and Management
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Copyright Statement
© 2009 Australian & New Zealand Academy of Management. The attached file is posted here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher, for your personal use only. No further distribution permitted. Use hypertext link for access to publisher's website.
Subject
Organisation and Management Theory