Blaming and shaming in the shadow structure: individual resistance towards gender equality work as expressions of social conflict

Abstract

This article explores individual resistance related to a military organization's gender equality work as expressed in online contexts. Resistance is explained as expressions of wider social conflicts, grounded in experiences of threats towards military masculinities, challenged by societal and political transformation processes perceived as feminine. The data consists of defence-related blogs and comments. A thematic analysis finds that individual resistance can be understood as blaming and shaming strategies. Five sub-themes are identified: blaming the "feminised" organization, blaming and shaming women's abilities to serve, individualisation of structural problems, verbal violence and violations, and objectification of men working with and supporting gender equality initiatives. The analysis exemplifies how social conflict is transferred to organizations through individual resistance. As gender equality policies are questioned, organizations need to confront resistance also within the online context.

To stand in line and fit in—About military men's (un)reflected navigation in the armed forces

“…They are modern men, with modern attitudes and values that fit into the Swedish context-perhaps being "tough and tender" (Duncansson, 2015). The conflict between the Swedish Armed Forces desire to represent the governments feminist perspective, while still encouraging a masculine norm has been noted elsewhere (Alvinius & Holmberg, 2021) and could be a contributing factor to this discrepancy that does not allow for a more nuanced image of the military person among the staff, where questions of vulnerability, compassion and empathy could be included in the military ideal. It could be that the feminine is still seen as something that is passive and in need of protection and therefore does not fit (Ericson, 2020).…”

Organizational resistance through organizing principles: the case of gender equality in the military

“…Using language such as “the production output” is a way of distancing from the individual – the members of the organization – that this work concerns. The introduction of gender neutrality (irrespective of sex) could be seen as a way of trying to gain support by men within the military that finds that the focus upon women is too great and that women receive more development opportunities than men (this has been found to be part of men’s individual resistance toward gender equality in the military [Alvinius and Holmberg, 2021]).…”