Mind your attitude: the impact of patriarchy on women’s workplace behaviour

Abstract

Purpose By conceptualising patriarchy in the workplace as a social situation, the purpose of this paper is to examine the prevalence of patriarchal attitudes and their impact on women’s workplace behaviour among Nigerian organisations. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a qualitative research approach, drawing on data from 32 semi-structured interviews with female employees and managers in two high-street banks in Nigeria. Findings The study finds that patriarchy shapes women’s behaviour in ways that undermine their performance and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB). Furthermore, the study finds that patriarchal attitudes, often practised at home, are frequently transferred to organisational settings. This transference affects women’s workplace behaviour and maintains men’s (self-perceived) superior status quo, whereby women are dominated, discriminated against and permanently placed in inferior positions. Research limitations/implications The extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the limited sample and scope of the research. Practical implications The challenges posed by the strong patriarchy on women’s workplace behaviour are real and complex, and organisations must address them in order to create a fairer workplace in which employees can thrive. It is therefore essential for organisations to examine periodically their culture to ensure that all employees, regardless of gender, are involved in the organisation’s affairs. Furthermore, organisations need to help women become more proactive in combating patriarchal behaviour, which often affects their performance and OCB. This requires organisations to affirm consistently their equal opportunities, equal rights and equal treatment policies. It is essential that organisations take this problem seriously by attaching due penalty to gender discrimination, as this will go a long way in ensuring positive outcomes for women and providing a fairer workplace. Originality/value This study provides empirical evidence that a more egalitarian work environment (in Nigerian banking) will result in improved performance from female employees and organisations. It calls for greater policy and organisational interventions to create a more inclusive work environment and an equal society.

The Portrayal of Gender in the Arabic Construction

“…In the Middle East and North Africa, it has become part of the political lexicon, especially in employment matters (Benstead 2021). It penetrated the home as well as the workplace, where the dominance of men has often been used to justify the status quo and permanently relegate women to inferior positions (Adisa, Cooke, & Iwowo 2020). Patriarchal characteristics have often marked diverse aspects of society (Benstead 2021).…”

Women’s Careers in a Patriarchal Context: Through the Lens of the Kaleidoscope Career Model

“…While there is a significant body of research examining the impact of public patriarchy on women's careers, the influence of private patriarchy on women's careers remains relatively unexplored in the published literature. Public patriarchal practices, such as gendered organizations (Acker, 1990) and a dominant male culture (Adisa, Cooke, et al, 2019;Hewlett et al, 2008;Hewlett et al, 2014;Witz, 1990), have been recognized as impediments to women's careers. Although a few studies (Bianchi & Spain, 1996;Blossfeld et al, 1996;Hynes & Clarkberg, 2005) have been conducted to analyze the impact of family-related factors on women's employment behavior, their primary focus has been on motherhood and marriage.…”

“…Discriminatory workplace practices against women, such as sexual harassment (Fitzgerald & Shullman, 1993;McDonald, 2012), pay and promotion inequities (Acker, 2006;Gress & Paek, 2014), less scope for career advancement (Stroh et al, 1996), lack of training (Gress & Paek, 2014;Powell, 1993), and a lack of leadership development opportunities (Ely et al, 2011), hinder women's career progression. Gendered practices of employee recruitment (Acker, 2006;Force, 1986), trusting male employees more than female employees regarding work quality (Lekchiri et al, 2019), and negative workplace attitudes of male colleagues toward female colleagues (Adisa, Cooke, et al, 2019;Desai et al, 2014), reinforce a male-dominated workplace culture.…”

“…A male-dominated workplace culture, an outcome of patriarchy, detrimentally affects women's workplace behavior. Female employees reported that men's patriarchal attitudes at work destroy healthy workplace behavior between men and women and hamper women's creativity (Adisa, Cooke, et al, 2019). Many men in traditional marriages view the presence of women in organizations as negative (Desai et al, 2014).…”

“…These men perceive organizations with a greater number of women to be less productive as they believe female employees are not as efficient as men. This perception of women undermines women's performance at work and hinders overall organizational performance (Adisa, Cooke, et al, 2019).…”