Faiza Ali

A multi‐level perspective on equal employment opportunity for women in Pakistan

Purpose – Informed by a relational theorisation of equal opportunity, this paper seeks to focus on multi‐level experiences and observations of women working in Pakistans formal employment sector considering issues and challenges facing them at three levels of analysis, i.e. macro‐societal, meso‐organisational and micro‐individual.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on in‐depth qualitative interviews with 30 working women in Lahore, the paper examines multi‐level issues of women working in Pakistani organisations.Findings – The study reveals that focusing exclusively on organisations and holding them solely accountable for equal opportunity may be inadequate as organisational structures and routines of equal opportunity are affected by both macro‐societal factors (e.g. legal, socio‐cultural) and micro‐individual factors (e.g. intersectionality, agency). In particular, the study highlights unique socio‐cultural and structural challenges facing working women in Pakistan and the ways in which these women a...

The White Woman's Burden: from colonial civilisation to Third World development

Abstract Gender discourse and scholarship continues to be dominated by Western paradigms, generally leading to an abstract mapping of gender stratification instead of a critical reflection on the very institutions that shape such lines of inquiry. Not unlike Kiplings illustration of the white mans burden, which treats other cultures as ‘childlike’ and ‘demonic’, mainstream theories and studies on gender continue to reflect the white womans burden, which seems to disparage the identity, voice and contexts of women of colour. This article reviews the historical and current roles of white women in white colonial and postcolonial projects. The review is intended to explore and understand reasons which may be currently contributing to doubts about the white womans burden in the Third World.

Agency and coping strategies for ethnic and gendered minorities at work

Abstract This study examines the comparative workplace experiences of twenty Muslim professional women from the United Kingdom and Australia classified as minorities in terms of their ethnic, religious, gender and migration status. Diversity as exclusion remains highly topical in extant diversity studies. For instance, Muslim migrants have often been stereotyped as sexually constrained, victimized, ignorant, poor, uneducated and tradition-bound. Muslim women may be highly discouraged if Western workplaces are not conducive to their social and cultural needs. By using human agency and coping theory, this study investigates the coping strategies of Muslim professional women, how they adapt, how they react and reflect on stressful workplace events such as discriminatory behaviour. Human agency theory provides a basis by which to explore agent responses to organisational narratives in this study. Overall, this study finds that active coping and planning to deal with stressful events is important for ethnic minorities and that emotion-focused coping is used when less active planning is prevalent. The study lends support to the triple jeopardy effects of race-related ethnicity, work practices and gender. The findings pose challenges for Western feminist theory in terms of the interface between gender and religion and the freedom of expression of individual agents in the workplace.

A relational understanding of work-life balance of Muslim migrant women in the west: future research agenda

Abstract Increasing globalisation and work intensification has led to a blurring of roles and boundaries between work and family. Such influences are more pronounced in migrant workers who often struggle to balance their work and life in a new national context. The challenge of work-life balance (WLB) is further compounded in the case of minority migrant groups such as Muslim women living and working in a Western context, as it is unclear how, in the face of discrimination, Islamophobia, family and other sociocultural and religious pressures and the WLB issues of migrant Muslim women (MMW) are enacted. As most studies of WLB are at a singular level of analysis, this paper contributes to the WLB literature through the lens of intersectionality, by providing a multi-level relational understanding of WLB issues of MMW working in a Western context. Future research and themes identified in this paper provide a multi-level and relational understanding of WLB of MMW, and implications for managers tasked with managing WLB issues for MMW in Western contexts are also discussed.

Critical perspectives of HRD and social transformation in sub-Saharan Africa

Within the management and HRD research terrain there has been increased recognition of the need to unravel the complexities of ‘context’. Recent commentators argue that context catalyses reflection about where HRD practice occurs and the situational factors that influence HRD engagement (Bierema and Callahan 2014). This paper aims to unpack diverse development practices, in contextual realms that help constitute and reconstitute HRD in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Our critique is positioned within critical studies of HRD, acknowledging the fluid, temporal, and spatial complexities of HRD. Thus, our writing is concerned with expanding the boundaries of HRD, beyond organization frames, so as to open up the possibilities for HRD as a mobilizing force for social and economic development. We want to expand the critical debates that are informing HRD conversations in order to show that critical scholarship contributes to not only ‘theorizing HRD’, but is ‘impactful’, and contributes to broader social and human transformations (see e.g. Bierema and Callahan 2014; Callahan 2013). The extant critical HRD literature has advanced HRD theorizing through exploring the myriad cultural and political dynamics of human resource development (HRD). Critical scholars have been concerned to challenge meta narratives of HRD (Bierema and Callahan 2014), and illustrate how power relations shape gendered, classed and racialized experiences of HRD, thereby denouncing claims of inclusivity, a central tenet of early HRD work (see Metcalfe, 2008). Similarly, there has been emerging scholarship that focuses on the social construction of HRD in diverse geographic regions (e.g. Kuchinke 2011; Poell et al. 2015). There is a growing body of work that has assessed the nature of HRD in South and East Asian contexts (e.g. McLean and McLean 2001), transitional states (Cunningham, Lynham, and Weatherly 2006), and the Arab Gulf (e.g. Metcalfe 2011). There is little substantive research however, that brings together critical understandings of HRD in SSA states. Much of the scholarship is written from a Western and colonialist perspective, and is positioned within an HRM frame that does not capture the dynamics of ‘development’ (see e.g. Said 2005; Zoogah, Peng, and Woldu 2015; Jackson 2012). Specifically, a Western, or Global North perspectives positions HRD as embracing a range of organization development issues (Jackson 2012). This view is limited and does not reflect the political economy and the stages of global capitalism in SSA states. In SSA and developing states, HRD is understood as an activity that incorporates social, economic, and community development realms (see Dike 2012; Metcalfe 2011; Pillay 2006; Said 2005; Sydhagen and Cunningham 2007; Utting 2006). This is an important conceptual difference since scholarship that attends only to internal organizing processes cannot capture the nuances of HRD in contemporary society which encapsulates a multi-level approach. Indeed, when considering HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL 2018, VOL. 21, NO. 5, 391–405 https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2018.1522726

A relational perspective on gender equality and mainstreaming

ABSTRACT This paper offers a relational, multilevel perspective on gender equality and mainstreaming. It argues that single-level conceptualizations of equality within organizational or legal policy domain may not fully capture the multilevel and contextual nature of gender equality and mainstreaming. Based on a review of macro-level factors (e.g. laws, policies, and culture), meso-level factors (e.g. organizational interventions), and micro-level factors (e.g. intersection of gender with social class and family status) in Pakistan, the paper develops a contextual perspective on gender mainstreaming to achieve gender equality at multiple levels.

Gender equality in employment in Saudi Arabia: a relational perspective

The purpose of this paper is to examine gender inequality in Saudi Arabia by using a relational perspective that takes into account the interrelated nature of the multilevel factors that influence this phenomenon.,A total of 21 in-depth interviews with female employees in Saudi Arabia were conducted and analysed using a thematic analysis.,The findings show how the interplay of factors on macro, meso and micro levels influences equal opportunities for women in Saudi Arabia, such as religio-cultural factors, the social power of wasta, the notions of female modesty and family honour and issues related to gender segregation, discrimination and harassment at work. Moreover, Saudi women’s experiences are varied on the basis of social class, family status and other dimensions of individual identity, adding to a growing body of intersectional research. The paper highlights the role of male guardianship system as well as the intersection of gender and class in pushing gender equality forward.,This study stresses the interrelated nature of the multilevel factors that affect gender equality and highlights the important role of individual agency and resilience.

Experiences of Female Victims of Faith-Based Violence in Pakistan

In “Experiences of Female Victims of Faith-Based Violence in Pakistan”, Faiza Ali uses an intersectional lens to document and highlight the Sunni Sufi, Shia and Ahmadi women’s experiences of faith-based violence in Pakistan. She takes into account the intersectionality of faith with gender and ethnicity, particularly in the context of the Hazara Shia community of Quetta and the target killings of the Sunni Sufi, Shia and Ahmadi communities in other parts of Pakistan. Drawing on in-depth interviews with affected women, Ali considers the sociological and psychological aspects of faith-based violence and its intersectional implications.

Practices of Organising and Managing Diversity in Emerging Markets Countries: Comparisons between Brazil, South Africa, India and Pakistan

PART 1: THEORIZING, INTERDISCIPLINARITY AND PLURALISM OF ORGANIZING AND MANAGING DIVERSITY PART 2: PLURAL/EPISTEMOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ORGANIZING AND MANAGING DIVERSITY PART 3: METHODICAL/EMPIRICAL PERSPECTIVES ON DIVERSITY IN ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT PART 4: CONTEXTS AND PRACTICES OF ORGANIZING AND MANAGING DIVERSITY PART 5: INTERSECTIONALITY AND CROSS/INTERCULTURAL ANALYSES PART 6: WHERE DID WE COME FROM AND WHERE DO WE GO? REFLECTIONS ON THEORY, RESEARCH AND PRACTICES OF ORGANIZING AND MANAGING DIVERSITY