Gender and Disability in Male‐Dominated Occupations: A Social Relational Model

Abstract

Evidence from male‐dominated sectors points to high levels of disability and the disabling nature of working environments. However, research of this nature assumes a medical model of disability that does not account for the social construction of disability or the lived experiences of disabled employees. Using data from seven focus groups (n = 44) and semi‐structured interviews with professional transport employees with life‐long hidden ‘impairments’, including dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, ADD/ADHD and Asperger syndrome (n = 22), this paper explores the lived experiences of men and women working in a sector traditionally dominated by men, the transport industry. Key themes include homosociality, public–private divide and the impact of changing work practices. Further, the data revealed how those with hidden ‘impairments’ in part construct their identities in relation to both non‐disabled colleagues and those considered stereotypically representing disability (wheelchair users). This study furthers understandings of the relationality of gender and disability in the workplace, and the lived experiences of disabled employees.

‘I’m a migrant, but I’m the right sort of migrant’: Hegemonic masculinity, whiteness, and intersectional privilege and (dis)advantage in migratory academic careers

“…In the current study, despite being a white UK man, Tony's experiences point to the potential difficulties experienced as a disabled academic, particularly as compounded by precarious contracts. Evidence from other skilled sectors suggests disability may trouble men's dominance in the workplace (Sang, Richards, & Marks, ), suggesting disabilities intersect with masculinities to shape the careers of skilled migratory workers.…”

“…The concept of Anglo privilege is particularly salient in Australia and New Zealand, with Anglo or Anglo-Celtic ethnicities seen as the dominant group (Forrest & Dunn, 2006). Schech and Haggis (2004) (Sang, Richards, & Marks, 2016), suggesting disabilities intersect with masculinities to shape the careers of skilled migratory workers.…”

Care for the self, overcompensation and bodily crafting: The work–life balance of disabled people

“…In arguing that ableism is a concept relevant to the WLB field, we draw on a growing stream of literature exploring how the construction of work and organizations assume non‐disability as an organizing norm (e.g., Jammaers & Zanoni, 2020; Sang, Richards, & Marks, 2016). Following the call made by Özbilgin et al (2011) to include disability in the WLB thesis, and by Williams and Mavin (2012) for more intersectional disability research, this article investigates how gender and disability complicate the WLB of disabled employees and the meaning given to conflicting roles in their life (Bochantin & Cowan, 2016).…”

“There’s a lot of woman in him”: the feminine as a deviance from the norm

“…From this context, it is possible to relate ableism and organizations, for inside the organizations it is convenient to link some people to the ableism, considering that those who are marked with characteristics that lead to the devout have a fragility in the status that consider them as legitimate organizational members (Dobusch, 2017), for example, in their researches, Sang, Richards and Marks (2016), found that there are organizational practices that seek to create constraints of tasks for certain subjects, that is, seek to prevent them from exercising certain positions, which entails in the no progression of the career perspective, the core of these practices objectify to give the positions of higher hierarchical level for the men while the women should occupy the positions of auxiliary. From this perspective, a relationship between gender and ableism can be identified.…”