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Redoing Gender: How Women in the Funeral Industry Use Essentialism for Equality

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  • Allison†Scott Pruitt

Abstract

Although some research considers women's participation in traditionally male†dominated jobs as an ‘undoing’ of the gender system, other scholars argue that women's participation in non†traditional roles can actually maintain hegemonic masculinity. Because women have recently entered the funeral industry in unprecedented numbers, the profession offers a unique context to study how women negotiate a sense of belonging in male†dominated fields. I draw on 22 interviews with women in the funeral industry to reveal how gender is done and undone in an occupational context. In what Hughey (. Social Problems, 57, 653–679) refers to as a ‘paradox of participation’, I argue that women in the funeral industry redefine the image of the ideal funeral director by using gender essentialist logic, which originally acted as a barrier to their entry to the field, to justify their participation. By showing how gender essentialism and egalitarianism can constitute reinforcing logics instead of an opposing binary, this research contributes to the literature concerning women in non†traditional roles.

Suggested Citation

  • Allison†Scott Pruitt, 2018. "Redoing Gender: How Women in the Funeral Industry Use Essentialism for Equality," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 144-158, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:25:y:2018:i:2:p:144-158
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12203
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Joyce, Yvonne & Walker, Stephen P., 2015. "Gender essentialism and occupational segregation in insolvency practice," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 41-60.
    2. Alison Cathles & David E. Harrington & Kathy Krynski, 2010. "The Gender Gap in Funeral Directors: Burying Women with Ready‐to‐Embalm Laws?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(4), pages 688-705, December.
    3. Piper Coutinho-Sledge, 2015. "Feminized Forestry: The Promises and Pitfalls of Change in a Masculine Organization," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 375-389, July.
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    1. Owain Smolović Jones & Sanela Smolović Jones & Scott Taylor & Emily Yarrow, 2022. "Theorizing gender desegregation as political work: The case of the Welsh Labour Party," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 1747-1763, November.

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