Barbara Poggio

Entrepreneur‐mentality, gender and the study of women entrepreneurs

Uses the neologism “entrepreneur mentality” – paying implicit homage to Foucaults govermentality – to highlight how an entrepreneurial discourse is mobilized as a system of thinking about women entrepreneurs which is able to make some form of that activity thinkable and practicable, namely: who can be an entrepreneur, what entrepreneurship is, what or who is managed by that form of governance of economic relations? Discourses on women entrepreneurs are linguistic practices that create truth effects. Argues that social studies of women entrepreneurs tend to reproduce an androcentric entrepreneur mentality that makes hegemonic masculinity invisible. They portray womens organizations as “the other”, and sustain social expectations of their difference, thereby implicitly reproducing male experience as a preferred normative value. Taking a deconstructive gaze on how an entrepreneur‐mentality discourse is gendered, reveals the gender sub‐text underpinning the practices of the scientific community that study women entrepreneurs and, in so doing, open a space to question them.

Between Bytes and Bricks: Gender Cultures in Work Contexts

In recent decades the western world has witnessed a huge increase in female labour market participation and training. Yet numerous studies report the persistence of inequalities and segregation between women and men in organizations. Analysis of the relationship between gender and organization needs to shift from numerical composition to more detailed examination of how gender is constructed in work contexts. This article discusses the results of a research study on men and women in mainly male-dominated organizations. It shows that gender is a cultural construction and is therefore produced and negotiated in different ways in different organizations. For this purpose, comparisons have been made of the symbolic order of gender of four organizational cultures characterized by profound differences in modes of production, workforce features and cultural traditions.

At Risk of Deskilling and Trapped by Passion: A Picture of Precarious Highly Educated Young Workers in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom

Recent decades have seen growing academic debate on the relationship between tertiary education and secure career pathways. In Europe in the 1990s, globalisation, the tertiarisation of the economy, the deregulation of labour markets, the onset of structural unemployment and the ‘democratisation’ of university (Blasutig, 2011) broke down the existing relationship between higher education and secure career pathways. The assumption that expanding higher education will automatically increase economic growth and reduce social inequalities has been challenged (Ballarino, 2007; Schomburg and Teichler, 2006), forcing researchers to revise their theoretical tools and interpretative models.

Vertical segregation and gender practices. Perspectives of analysis and action

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the persistence of vertical segregation in the European labour market, suggesting an interpretation of the phenomenon (and a consequent basis for intervention) based on the concept of gender practice.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is theoretical in nature. It consists of a brief survey of the main explanations proposed in the literature and of the approaches most frequently used to counteract vertical gender segregation. It then focuses on a practice‐based approach.Findings – The paper describes the opportunities offered by an approach based on an interpretation of gender as practice.Originality/value – The paper intends to provide the debate on gender and management with insights derived from adoption of an interpretative perspective emergent from both the theoretical point of view and that of managerial action and policy.

Stories of work/life transitions from the Italian public sector

Purpose – The aim of this article is to overcome an endogenous view of work, as a category isolated from the other existential spheres, and to identify an alternative approach to understanding how (paid) work and other life domains interweave. Biographical transitions between work and non‐work are analysed, paying specific attention to the processes of gender positioning.Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on the analysis of 60 narrative interviews with men and women working in the Italian public sector (the civil service and the health service). The interviews were audiorecorded, transcribed, and then subjected to narrative analysis, focusing in particular on plots, biographical transitions and positioning processes.Findings – The analysis has brought out the predominant plots, as well as the alternative ones, of the work stories narrated by men and women interviewed, highlighting the specific gender positioning that subtended different attributions between men and women in the inter‐rela...

Work–life interferences in the early stages of academic careers: The case of precarious researchers in Italy

This paper addresses the topic of work–life interferences in academic contexts. More specifically, it focuses on early career researchers in the Italian university system. The total availability required from those who work in the research sector is leading to significant transformations of the temporalities of work, especially among the new generation of researchers, whose condition is characterized by a higher degree of instability and uncertainty. Which are the experiences of the early career researchers in an academic context constituted by a growing competition for permanent positions and, as a consequence, by a greatly increased pressure? Which are the main gender differences? In what elements do Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines differ from Social Sciences and Humanities? The collected narratives reveal how the ongoing process of precarization is affecting both the everyday working activities and the private and family lives of early career researchers, with important consequences also on their future prospects.

Organizational members as storywriters: on organizing practices of reflexivity

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe how organizational members became storywriters of an important process of organizational change. Writing became a practice designed to create a space, a time and a methodology with which to author the process of change and create a learning context. The written stories produced both the subjectivity of practical authors and reflexively created the con/text for their reproduction. Design/methodology/approach A storywriting workshop inspired by a processual and participatory practice-based approach to learning and knowing was held in a research organization undergoing privatization. For six months, 31 organizational members, divided into two groups, participated in writing one story per week for six weeks. The written story had to refer to a fact that had occurred in the previous week, thus prompting reflection on the ongoing organizational life and giving a situated meaning to the change process. Findings Storywriting is first and foremost a social practice of wayfinding, that is of knowing as one goes. Writing proved to be an effective practice that involved the authors, their narratives and the audiences in a shared experience where all these practice elements became connected and through their connection acquired agency. Originality/value Narrative knowledge has been studied mainly in storytelling, while storywriting by organizational members has received less attention. This paper explores storywriting both as a situated, relational and material practice and as the process that produces narratives which can be considered for their content and their style.

Quando studiare non basta. Racconti di giovani highly skilled nel mercato del lavoro flessibile

In questo contributo vengono discussi alcuni dei principali risultati di una ricerca mirata ad analizzare il fenomeno dell’instabilita lavorativa tra i giovani highly skilled i n I talia. D opo aver d elineato u n q uadro g enerale d ei c ambiamenti che connotano la situazione di questo specifico segmento, vengono presentati gli esiti di una indagine qualitativa basata sulla conduzione di interviste in profondita, focalizzando in particolare l’attenzione sulla temporaneita dei contratti, sulla qualita del lavoro, sull’intreccio tra lavoro e vita privata e sulla questione dei diritti e della sicurezza sociale. Infine viene sviluppata una riflessione sui possibili interventi per contrastare le criticita evidenziate, anche sulla base degli esiti di un focus group condotto con testimoni privilegiati.

I giovani tra lavoro e non lavoro. Storie di equilibri instabili in una prospettiva di genere: una ricerca in provincia di Trento

L’introduzione dei contratti di lavoro a termine non sembra aver raggiunto in Italia gli obiettivi dichiarati, in particolare per quanto riguarda l’aumento dei tassi di occupazione di giovani e donne. A partire da tale constatazione, in questo contributo viene proposta una prospettiva analitica che guardi alle differenze di genere tra i giovani che vivono situazioni di incertezza lavorativa. Dopo aver offerto una panoramica del fenomeno a livello nazionale, vengono presentati i risultati di una ricerca qualitativa in cui si e cercato di comprendere piu in profondita le dinamiche a cui le giovani donne sono esposte nel mercato del lavoro flessibile. Infine, a partire dagli esiti emersi, vengono discusse eventuali politiche a sostegno del lavoro atipico, nella prospettiva di un maggior equilibrio di genere nei percorsi professionali.

Gender and Precarious Research Careers: A Comparative Analysis

The literature on gender and science shows that scientific careers continue to be characterised – albeit with important differences among countries – by strong gender discriminations, especially in more prestigious positions. Much less investigated is the issue of which stage in the career such differences begin to show up. Gender and Precarious Research Careers aims to advance the debate on the process of precarisation in higher education and its gendered effects, and springs from a three-year research project across institutions in seven European countries: Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Iceland, Switzerland, Slovenia and Austria. Examining gender asymmetries in academic and research organisations, this insightful volume focuses particularly on early careers. It centres both on STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and SSH (Social Science and Humanities) fields. Offering recommendations to design innovative organisational policies and self-tailored ‘Gender Equality Plans’ to be implemented in universities and research centres, this volume will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as Gender Studies, Sociology of Work and Industry, Sociology of Knowledge, Business Studies and Higher Education.The literature on gender and science shows that scientific careers continue to be characterised – albeit with important differences among countries – by strong gender discrimination, especially in more prestigious positions. Much less investigated is the issue of which stage in the career such differences begin to show up. Gender and Precarious Research Careers aims to advance the debate on the process of precarisation in higher education and its gendered effects, and springs from a three-year research project across institutions in seven European countries: Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Iceland, Switzerland, Slovenia and Austria. Examining gender asymmetries in academic and research organisations, this insightful volume focuses particularly on early careers. It centres not only on STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), but also on the more ‘feminised’ SSH (Social Science and Humanities) fields. Offering recommendations to design innovative organisational policies and self-tailored ‘Gender Equality Plans’ to be implemented in universities and research centres, this volume will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as Gender Studies, Sociology of Work & Industry, Sociology of Knowledge, Business Studies and Higher Education.