Disrupting the Gender Institution: Consciousness-Raising in the Cocoa Value Chain

Abstract

Gender is one of the most taken-for-granted institutions. Inequality is a common by-product of this institution and questions arise as to how such inequalities can be addressed. We uncover the cognitive and emotional processes individuals experience that enable them to begin disrupting the gender institution, within our case context of a gender equality programme in the Ghanaian cocoa value chain. We identify four elements of institutional apprehension: theorising, auditing, relating to others and exploring difference. These processes help individuals 'see' the dimensions of the gender institution: its order's laws and rules, its organisational gender regimes, and its gendered practices in daily interactions. Furthermore, some individuals are able to appreciate the dynamic interplay between these dimensions, and the power relations that are inherent within them. We argue that this fifth element of institutional apprehension, consciousness-raising, is particularly important for achieving equality. Consciousnessraising involves connecting everyday practices with organisational and structural rules, thus making 'the personal political'. It enables individuals to re-consider the way that power plays out in relational ways within value chains, promoting variously fatalism, resistance and the possibility of more multi-dimensional solutions to gender inequality.

The Organizational Reproduction of Inequality

“…Thus, digitalization is exacerbating the bifurcation we described earlier with benefits disproportionately accruing to those who are highly educated while those who are not find themselves increasingly disadvantaged (e.g., Acemoglu & Autor, 2011;. Further, despite the supposed closer proximity of Northern and Southern workers, transnational inequalities remain intact Hayes, Introna & Kelly, 2018;McCarthy & Moon, 2018). For example, women from the Global South are frequently seen as oppressed, lacking confidence and in need of patronage from those in the North.…”

“…The myth of globalization as the great leveler thus obscures the unequal distribution of rewards and opportunities within global businesses. In global production networks, inequality is often perpetuated by powerful manufacturers and retailers (Alamgir & Alakavuklar, 2018;McCarthy & Moon, 2018). Taking advantage of low wages, combined with weak labor and environmental laws, global brands are often seen to deny basic labor rights while knowledge workers and senior managers located in Northern offices accrue proportionately higher levels of compensation.…”

Caste and Organization Studies: Our Silence Makes Us Complicit

“…The essentialist view is largely taken for granted by those who practice caste, and it is inimical to remedying the inequalities that stem from it (Prasad, 2012). It ignores how caste, like gender, operates as a socially constructed multidimensional institution (McCarthy & Moon, 2018). But, what kind of institution caste may be, may in itself pose a challenge to institutional literature.…”

Coping with the COVID‐19 crisis: force majeure and gender performativity

“…Many organizations and individuals resist change in their patterns of thinking and their actions, amidst a storm of disruption and even to their detriment. A case in point is inter-gender relations and the related resistance to embrace transformative disruption (McCarthy & Moon, 2018). This predicament also marks family life which is vividly demonstrated in Force Majeure, a Swedish movie that tells the story of an idyllic, family ski holiday that is interrupted by a catastrophic reckoning.…”