IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/gender/v28y2021i4p1304-1322.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mentoring as affective governmentality: Shame, (un)happiness, and the (re)production of masculine leadership

Author

Listed:
  • Jette Sandager

Abstract

This article contributes to current discussions on the effectiveness of mentoring as a gender equality tool, but also focuses on the emotions and bodily (dis)comforts mentoring produces in addition to linguistic discourses, thus offering a novel take on how the tool operates. Drawing on a case study of a Danish mentoring program aimed at establishing the organizational space of leadership as more gender equal, the article demonstrates how, in producing shame and (un)happiness, mentoring (re)produces leadership as an organizational space dominated by masculine norms and work practices. The findings of the article support literature arguing that mentoring is an ineffective gender equality tool. However, the article does not entirely discard mentoring for this purpose, instead suggesting that scholars and practitioners look to literature on queered forms of mentoring for inspiration on how to use mentoring as a tool that carries the potential of truly promoting gender equality.

Suggested Citation

  • Jette Sandager, 2021. "Mentoring as affective governmentality: Shame, (un)happiness, and the (re)production of masculine leadership," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 1304-1322, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:28:y:2021:i:4:p:1304-1322
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12653
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12653
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/gwao.12653?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elisabeth Kelan, 2009. "Gender as an Ideological Dilemma," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Performing Gender at Work, chapter 6, pages 145-181, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Frey, Bruno S & Stutzer, Alois, 2000. "Happiness, Economy and Institutions," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(466), pages 918-938, October.
    3. Sadhvi Dar & Yasmin Ibrahim, 2019. "The Blackened body and White governmentality: Managing the UK academy and the production of shame," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(9), pages 1241-1254, September.
    4. Dworkin, Terry Morehead & Maurer, Virginia & Schipani, Cindy A., 2012. "Career mentoring for women: New horizons/Expanded methods," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 363-372.
    5. Gherardi, Silvia & Poggio, Barbara, 2001. "Creating and recreating gender order in organizations," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 245-259, October.
    6. Bruno S. Frey, 2018. "Economics of Happiness," SpringerBriefs in Economics, Springer, number 978-3-319-75807-7, September.
    7. Cayce C. Hughes & Kristen Schilt & Bridget K. Gorman & Jenifer L. Bratter, 2017. "Framing the Faculty Gender Gap: A View from STEM Doctoral Students," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 398-416, July.
    8. Christiana Hilmer & Michael Hilmer, 2007. "Women Helping Women, Men Helping Women? Same-Gender Mentoring, Initial Job Placements, and Early Career Publishing Success for Economics PhDs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 422-426, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lilith A. Whiley & Ashley Wright & Sarah E. Stutterheim & Gina Grandy, 2023. "“A part of being a woman, really”: Menopause at work as “dirty” femininity," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 897-916, May.
    2. Rhea Ashley Hoskin & Lilith A. Whiley, 2023. "Femme‐toring: Leveraging critical femininities and femme theory to cultivate alternative approaches to mentoring," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1317-1333, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kaiser, Lutz C., 2005. "Gender-Job Satisfaction Differences across Europe: An Indicator for Labor Market Modernization," IZA Discussion Papers 1876, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. D'Ambrosio, Conchita & Frick, Joachim R., 2004. "Subjective Well-Being and Relative Deprivation: An Empirical Link," IZA Discussion Papers 1351, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Torgler, Benno & Schneider, Friedrich & Schaltegger, Christoph A., 2007. "With or Against the People? The Impact of a Bottom-Up Approach on Tax Morale and the Shadow Economy," Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics, Working Paper Series qt6331x6vz, Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics.
    4. Oded Stark & Marcin Jakubek & Krzysztof Szczygielski, 2020. "The social preferences of the native inhabitants, and the decision how many asylum seekers to admit," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 156(1), pages 133-152, February.
    5. Luis Diaz‐Serrano & Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose, 2012. "Decentralization, Subjective Well‐Being, and the Perception of Institutions," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 179-193, May.
    6. Estela Núñez-Barriopedro & Rafael Ravina-Ripoll & Eduardo Ahumada-Tello, 2020. "Happiness perception in Spain, a SEM approach to evidence from the sociological research center," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 761-779, June.
    7. Benno Torgler & Friedrich Schneider, 2005. "What Shapes the Attitudes Towards Paying Taxes? Evidence from Switzerland, Belgium and Spain," CREMA Working Paper Series 2005-06, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    8. Luis Rayo & Gary S. Becker, 2010. "Happiness, Income and Economic Policy," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 8(04), pages 13-16, January.
    9. Sarracino, Francesco, 2013. "Determinants of subjective well-being in high and low income countries: Do happiness equations differ across countries?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 51-66.
    10. Oded Stark & Marcin Jakubek, 2016. "Can a Concern for Status Reconcile Diverse Social Welfare Programs?," Research on Economic Inequality, in: Inequality after the 20th Century: Papers from the Sixth ECINEQ Meeting, volume 24, pages 235-246, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    11. repec:pri:cepsud:125krueger is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Carl Christian von Weizsäcker, 2011. "Homo Oeconomicus Adaptivus – Die Logik des Handelns bei veränderlichen Präferenzen," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2011_10, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    13. Carlsson, Fredrik & Lampi, Elina & Li, Wanxin & Martinsson, Peter, 2014. "Subjective well-being among preadolescents and their parents – Evidence of intergenerational transmission of well-being from urban China," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 11-18.
    14. Stark, Oded & Zawojska, Ewa & Kohler, Wilhelm & Szczygielski, Krzysztof, 2018. "An adverse social welfare effect of a doubly gainful trade," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 77-84.
    15. Tim Tiefenbach & Florian Kohlbacher, 2015. "Happiness in Japan in Times of Upheaval: Empirical Evidence from the National Survey on Lifestyle Preferences," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 333-366, April.
    16. Yamamura, Eiji, 2013. "Trial experience, satisfaction and incentive to bring another lawsuit: Does aspiration level influence winners and losers?," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 125-131.
    17. Bradford, W. David & Dolan, Paul, 2010. "Getting used to it: The adaptive global utility model," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 811-820, December.
    18. Hung-Hao Chang & Pei-An Liao, 2015. "Are Immigrant Wives Happy in Taiwan? A Look at the Role of Bargaining Power Within the Married Couples," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 295-312, April.
    19. Saku Aura & Gregory D. Hess, 2010. "What’S In A Name?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 48(1), pages 214-227, January.
    20. Stark, Oded, 2006. "Inequality and migration: A behavioral link," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 146-152, April.
    21. Garry F. Barrett & Milica Kecmanovic, 2012. "Changes in Subjective Well-being with Retirement: Assessing Savings Adequacy in Australia," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 296, McMaster University.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:28:y:2021:i:4:p:1304-1322. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0968-6673 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.