Performing the enterprising subject: Gendered strategies for success (?)

Struggling with Maternity Leave Policies and Practices: A Poststructuralist Feminist Analysis of Gendered Organizing

“…A "good" or ideal worker is not someone who chooses pregnancy, who exhibits feminine and sexual qualities, who prioritizes personal needs such as childbearing over corporate needs, and who cannot be in the office 24/7/365 (see Deetz, 1992Deetz, , 1995Perlow, 1998). In addition, ideal workers must always look and act fit, youthful, and professional (Nadesan & Trethewey, 2000;Trethewey, 2000Trethewey, , 2001. These cultural images of good workers and the organizational structures and practices associated with them are suffused with masculinity (Acker, 1990(Acker, , 1992Gherardi, 1996).…”

Negotiating Power Paradoxes: Contradictions in Women's Constructions of Organizational Power

“…The result is a situation where women are either feminine or professional, but the tension between the two concepts constructs a paradox precluding one from being both. Within the professional paradox, professional women are either too female to be professional or too professional to be feminine (Nadesan & Trethewey, 2000;Trethewey, 1999;Wood & Conrad, 1983). Dougherty argues that inconsistencies might serve to marginalize women in organizations by creating ''untenable and uncomfortable situations'' and ''reinforcing the professional paradox' ' (2001b, p. 7).…”

The Dialectical Gaze

“…Speaking about the gendered strategies of mainstream working women, Nadesan and Tretheway (2000) stated, "In short, the literature indicates that the woman with the entrepreneurial spirit is able to manage her life and career successfully through shaping and disciplining her very body, in terms of its image, sexuality, and nonverbal displays" (p. 237). Clearly, it is not just in the sex work industry where sex works in women's lives.…”

“…Whether through expression or suppression, for many professional women, sexuality is a spoken or unspoken component of work. Their jobs do not have to require them to take off their clothes for them to feel that to be successful they must shape and discipline their bodies toward a prescribed feminine image (Nadesan and Tretheway 2000;Tretheway 1998). …”