Patricia Yancey Martin

“Said and Done” Versus “Saying and Doing” Gendering Practices, Practicing Gender at Work

Recently, the study of gender has focused on processes by which gender is brought into social relations through interaction. This article explores implications of a two-sided dynamic—gendering practices and practicing of gender—for understanding gendering processes in formal organizations. Using stories from interviews and participant observation in multinational corporations, the author explores the practicing of gender at work. She defines practicing gender as a moving phenomenon that is done quickly, directionally (in time), and (often) nonreflexively; is informed (often) by liminal awareness; and is in concert with others. She notes how other conceptions of gender dynamics and practice inform the analysis and argues that adequate conceptualization (and potential elimination) of harmful aspects of gendering practices/practicing will require attention to (1) agency, intentionality, awareness, and reflexivity; (2) positions, power, and experience; and (3) choice, accountability, and audience. She calls for incorporating the “sayings and doings” of gender into organization theory and research.

FRATERNITIES AND RAPE ON CAMPUS

Despite widespread knowledge that fraternity members are frequently involved in the sexual assaults of women, fraternities are rarely studied as social contexts-groups and organizations-that encourage the sexual coercion of women. An analysis of the norms and dynamics of the social construction of fraternity brotherhood reveals the highly masculinist features of fraternity structure and process, including concern with a narrow, stereotypical conception of masculinity and heterosexuality; a preoccupation with loyalty, protection of the group, and secrecy; the use of alcohol as a weapon against womens sexual reluctance; the pervasiveness of violence and physical force; and an obsession with competition, superiority, and dominance. Interfraternity rivalry and competition-particularly over members, intramural sports, and women-encourage fraternity mens commodification of women. We conclude that fraternities will continue to violate women socially and sexually unless they change in fundamental ways.

Gender As Social Institution

This article encourages sociologists to study gender as a social institution. Noting that scholars apply the institution concept to highly disparate phenomena, it reviews the history of the concept in twentieth-century sociology. The defining characteristic most commonly attributed to social institution is endurance (or persistence over time) while contemporary uses highlight practices, conflict, identity, power, and change. I identify twelve criteria for deciding whether any phenomenon is a social institution. I conclude that treating gender as an institution will improve gender scholarship and social theory generally, increase awareness of genders profound sociality, offer a means of linking diverse theoretical and empirical work, and make genders invisible dynamics and complex intersections with other institutions more apparent and subject to critical analysis and change.

RETHINKING FEMINIST ORGANIZATIONS

This article analyzes feminist organizations as a species of social movement organization. It identifies 10 dimensions for comparing feminist and nonfeminist organizations or for deriving types of feminist organizations and analyzing them. The dimensions are feminist ideology, feminist values, feminist goals, feminist outcomes (for members and society), founding circumstances, structure, practice, members and membership, scope and scale, and external relations (legal-corporate status, autonomy, funding, and network linkages). I argue that many scholars judge feminist organizations against an ideal type that is largely unattainable and that excessive attention has been paid to the issue of bureaucracy versus collectivism to the neglect of other organizational qualities. The varieties of ideology, form, and strategy that feminist organizations embody should be analyzed in relation to outcomes for women, the womens movement, and society. As has recently begun to occur, feminist scholars are encouraged to claim the topic of feminist organizations for themselves.

‘Over the Pond and Across the Water’: Developing the Field of ‘Gendered Organizations’

This article is concerned with the development of gendered organizations as a field of study. It begins by exploring some of the factors that militate against integrating organization studies and gender studies and gendered organizations scholarship over national/continental divides. Increasingly doubtful about whether traditional (mainstream and critical) organization theories will or can adequately address gender, we contend that scholars of gendered organizations should ‘strike out’ on our/their own, ‘boldly going’ into unfamiliar territory to create new, innovative theories, concepts and ideas. We make various suggestions about possible future directions for theorizing and research.

Advancement for Women in Hierarchical Organizations: A Multilevel Analysis of Problems and Prospects

Womens problems and prospects for advancement to upper level positions in hierarchical organizations are analyzed within a five-level framework of social organization. The five levels are (1) societal; (2) institutional; (3) organizational; (4) role; and (5) individual. Corresponding units of analysisfor each level are identified and discussed. To illustrate the framework, two problems confronting women are identified for each level, along with possible corrective actions. Conclusions are that (1) fundamental change in womens status in hierarchical work organizations will require simultaneous efforts on all five levels of social organization; (2) change in any realm requires political action against ideological justifications and claims for womens exclusion; and (3) the division of labor between the sexes in relation to work and child/family/home responsibilities must change before women can receive equitable treatment in the workplace. The authors call for more research on the interrelations between influences and factors across levels of social organization.

Sensations, Bodies, and the ‘Spirit of a Place’: Aesthetics in Residential Organizations for the Elderly

This article uses data collected in the 1970s and 1980s from old people’s homes (OPHs) in the United Kingdom to explore how aesthetics are organized in residential organizations for the elderly. The analysis reviews the sensations to which OPH members are subjected and reveals the role of power in organizing aesthetic experiences. Paradoxes associated with framing residential organizations as homes and with controlling residents’ bodies are explored. I focus on the senses of smell, sight, touch, and sound with attention to staff and residents’ views of residents’ bodily messes and their constructions of residents’ death and dying. In exploring the ‘spirit of a place,’ I differentiate homey from institutional facilities (as ideal types) by noting their physical, cultural, and social attributes. In a section on socially constructing residents’ bodies, I explore how homey (more than institutional) OPHs use power to enhance residents’ dignity and rights. Conclusions affirm the value of placing the ethnographer and her bodily sensations inside the story and the need for more research on smells and power’s role in creating a positive spirit in residential organizations for the elderly.

Gender, Interaction, and Inequality in Organizations

People today live much of their lives in and through formal organizations. Worshipping, learning to add and subtract, having babies, fighting wars, and making laws are organizational activities. The thesis of this chapter is that formal organizations are highly gendered, in addition to being ubiquitous, and are excellent sites for studying gender interaction and inequality (cf. Acker, 1990; Burrell & Hearn, 1989).

Women Who Are Stalked: Questioning the Fear Standard

The authors use logistic regression with the National Violence Against Women Survey sample (N = 8,000) to explore patterns in fear reported by women who were stalked. One fourth of our sample felt no fear, with Black women significantly less likely to report fear (compared to White women). Women who were frequently stalked, stalked by an intimate or family member or acquaintance, or stalked by physical or communicative means reported feeling fearful more than did others. Requiring a woman to feel fearful before accepting her experience as an instance of stalking risks, the authors conclude, a miscarriage of justice, an undercount of the crime, and an abandonment of women (and others) who need validation from the state and protection from stalkers.

UNOBTRUSIVE MOBILIZATION BY AN INSTITUTIONALIZED RAPE CRISIS CENTER “All We Do Comes from Victims”

This case study of unobtrusive mobilizing by Southern California Rape Crisis Center uses archival, observational, and interview data to explore how a feminist organization worked to change police, schools, prosecutor, and some state and national organizations from 1974 to 1994. Mansbridges concept of street theory and Katzensteins concepts of unobtrusive mobilization and discursive politics guide the analysis. SCRCCs theme of “All We Do Comes from Victims” reflects the source of its initiatives, that is, victims who came to them for help. Employing strategies of discursive politics and “occupy and indoctrinate,” members used a narrative method of “storytelling” to mobilize support and produce change. Our results increase understanding of how institutionalized womens movement organizations mobilize over time as they create meaning and commitment for members and outsiders. The authors call for more research on narrative as a womens movement strategy and on feminist (and allied) organizations that are situated inside institutional contexts.