The Sociology of Professions and the Profession of Gender

Abstract

Notwithstanding the growing numbers of women entering the professions and considerable public debate concerned with equal opportunity and barriers to women's advancement, attempts to theorise the relation between gender and profession within the discipline of sociology remain relatively rare. This paper draws on recent work on the gendering of organisation and bureaucracy to suggest that a key issue for consideration is not so much the exclusion of women from work defined as professional, but rather their routine inclusion in ill-defined support roles. This adjunct work of women, it is argued, facilitates the `fleeting encounter' of professional practice, thereby resting on, and celebrating, a specific historical and cultural construction of masculinity and a masculinist vision of professional work. In an era where professions are under unprecedented public scrutiny, sociological attention to their renewal needs to recognise that a key feature of profession, as presently defined, is that it professes gender.

Promoting women to MD in investment banking: multi-level influences

“…Despite an earlier view that the banking industry has been more forward thinking in its equality and diversity policies in the past than other PSFs (Parker, Pascall and Evetts, 1998), research continues to show that procedures and practices in professional service firms are gendered (Kornberger et al, 2010;Walsh, 2012) and, being historically and socially embedded, they continue to privilege the powerful elite (Davies, 1996). The promotion processes described in this study are based on male models of success, which rely on self-promotion in the right networks, high levels of sponsorship and high levels of visibility (Kumra and Vinnicombe, 2008).…”

Opportunity or exploitation? Women and quality assurance in higher education

“…She highlighted how women's invisible labour promotes men's authority. Davies (1996) also wrote about women's 'adjunct' roles whereby male professionals are kept aloof and elite by armies of women who deal with the clutter. Women often appear to occupy adjunct roles in quality management, that is, they are appointed as deputies to focus on the devilish details of assuring quality.…”

La segregación horizontal por género y sus consecuencias en la ocupación masculinizada de mecánico/a en el subsector de reparación de vehículos en España

“…Los propietarios, gerentes y jefes de taller no confían en la profesionalidad de las mecánicas y consideran que las mujeres no son aptas para ocupar empleos masculinizados (Davies, 1996). Así, el propietario y jefe de un taller entrevistado hace referencia en la siguiente cita a la supuesta escasa calidad de una ITV [3] (Inspección Técnica de Vehículos) localizada en las afueras del municipio de Madrid en la que sólo hay mujeres empleadas:…”