Applying a gender lens to employment relations: Revitalisation, resistance and risks

Abstract

Employment relations is on the defensive. A gender lens provides opportunities for revitalisation through bringing in social reproduction alongside production, introducing intersectional identities alongside class, developing gendered critiques of ‘neutral’ markets and recognising the ‘doing of gender’ within the workplace. However, resistance within research and practice is evident in gender blindness, marginalisation of gender issues or preference for male interests. Three risks associated with a gender lens are identified: first, feminist critiques may be used by employers or neoliberal policymakers to deregulate employment; second, by making gender visible, gender differences may be used to legitimise gender inequalities; and third, in representing workers’ interests many pitfalls need to be navigated in steering a path between excessive fragmentation and reproducing hierarchy, whether by class, gender or race. Nevertheless, the costs of not embracing a gender perspective go beyond missed opportunities for renewal and leave employment relations at risk of further decline.

Advocacy for women migrant workers in Malaysia through an intersectionality lens

“…That these workers had intersecting needs was acknowledged by all participants. Yet, participants faced many legal, political and social barriers, which meant that they either excluded women migrant workers as a client group or could only partially meet intersectional needs (Strolovich, 2006;Alberti et al, 2013;Rubery and Hebson, 2018). The barriers made it very difficult for NGOs to ask the "other" questions required for an intersectional approach (Matsuda, 1991); for example, to address both migrant status as a source of disadvantage and also gender discrimination.…”

“…But doing so also means that "common interests" tend to be those which affect the more privileged members, as are the policy issues addressed by these organisations (p896). In the UK, Rubery and Hebson (2018) Marchetti 2014shows, again in the context of the US, how organisations disproportionately advocate on behalf of some intersectional identities (e.g. class) over others (e.g.…”

Aikuiskasvatus 1/2020

“…lisi lähestyä jatkuvasti tuotettavana eikä vain työpaikoilla ilmenevänä erona. (Rubery & Hebson 2018. ) Suomalaista työelämää sukupuolen näkökulmasta tarkasteleva Päivi Korvajärvi (2004, 23-24) tiivistää sukupuolen tekemisen neljään keskenään risteävään lähestymistapaan, joissa sukupuolen nähdään rakentuvan esimerkiksi ihmisten välisissä vuorovaikutustilanteissa, toiminnan ja yhteiskunnan rakenteiden välisissä käytännöissä, symboleissa ja mielikuvissa, sekä sukupuolen esityksissä.…”

The founding of the Gender, Work and Organization journal: Reflections 25 years on

“…However, there are at least two — probably more — very strong reasons for defending GWO from this form of criticism. The first is that the struggle to persuade social sciences to adopt a gender lens in assessing topics still goes on; gender analysis within most disciplines is still far from mainstreamed and often confined to a minority of scholars, mainly women (see Hebson & Rubery, and Rubery and Hebson , on employment relations). GWO can therefore act both as a beacon, demonstrating the importance of this kind of work, and also an outlet where gender scholarship still finds resistance in more mainstream ‘gender‐neutral’ journals.…”