IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/gender/v29y2022i1p205-221.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Change agents or defending the status quo? How senior leaders frame workplace gender equality

Author

Listed:
  • Natasha Cortis
  • Meraiah Foley
  • Sue Williamson

Abstract

Senior leaders are usually understood to be ideally positioned to drive the organizational changes needed to promote workplace gender equality. Yet seniority also influences leaders' values and attitudes, and how they interpret evidence of inequalities, determine organizational priorities, and design and implement remedies. This article examines leaders' perceptions of workplace gender equality using system justification theory to explain survey data from Australia's public sector (n = 2292). Multivariate analysis indicates that male and female leaders more positively rate the gender equality climate in their agencies, compared with lower‐level staff, and that male leaders show most propensity to defend the status quo. Findings call into question the effectiveness of change strategies that rely on leadership and buy‐in of those whose privilege is embedded in existing arrangements, and problematize dominant organizational approaches casting senior leaders as effective change agents for gender equality. The article helps to explain gendered power dynamics, which produce and sustain organizational inequalities and make workplace equality so hard to achieve, and points to ways to strengthen practical approaches to promote equality in organizations.

Suggested Citation

  • Natasha Cortis & Meraiah Foley & Sue Williamson, 2022. "Change agents or defending the status quo? How senior leaders frame workplace gender equality," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 205-221, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:29:y:2022:i:1:p:205-221
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12742
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12742
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/gwao.12742?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. Lansu, M. & Bleijenbergh, I. & Benschop, Y., 2020. "Just talking? Middle managers negotiating problem ownership in gender equality interventions," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(2).
    3. Eddy Ng & Greg Sears, 2012. "CEO Leadership Styles and the Implementation of Organizational Diversity Practices: Moderating Effects of Social Values and Age," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 105(1), pages 41-52, January.
    4. Jill Rubery, 2013. "Public sector adjustment and the threat to gender equality," Chapters, in: Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead (ed.), Public Sector Shock, chapter 2, pages 43-83, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    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. Micaela Stierncreutz & Janne Tienari, 2023. "Shaped by resistance: Discursive politics in gender equality work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1178-1198, 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. Linda Colley & Sue Williamson & Meraiah Foley, 2021. "Understanding, ownership, or resistance: Explaining persistent gender inequality in public services," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 284-300, January.
    2. Nhat Minh Tran, 2022. "CEO and Chairperson Characteristics and Corporate Environmental Performance: A Study of Cooperatives in Vietnam," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, October.
    3. Mehdi Nekhili & Hayette Gatfaoui, 2013. "Are Demographic Attributes and Firm Characteristics Drivers of Gender Diversity? Investigating Women’s Positions on French Boards of Directors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(2), pages 227-249, December.
    4. Biren Valodia & Ted Sun & Thomas Zachariah, 2018. "Critical Success Factors That Influence Black Leadership Integration in Companies Listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(5), pages 1-72, March.
    5. Lorna Treanor & Susan Marlow & Janine Swail, 2021. "Rationalizing the postfeminist paradox: The case of UK women veterinary professionals," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 337-360, January.
    6. Wenjing Li & Xuhui Wang & Md Jamirul Haque & Muhammad Noman Shafique & Muhammad Zahid Nawaz, 2020. "Impact of Workforce Diversity Management on Employees’ Outcomes: Testing the Mediating Role of a person’s Job Match," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440209, January.
    7. Johansson, Kristina & Johansson, Maria & Andersson, Elias, 2023. "All talk and no action? Making change and negotiating gender equality in Swedish forestry," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    8. Fernando, Guy D. & Schneible, Richard A. & Zhang, Wei, 2024. "Institutional ownership and women in the top management team," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    9. Jian Zhang & Dongmin Kong & Ji Wu, 2018. "Doing Good Business by Hiring Directors with Foreign Experience," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(3), pages 859-876, December.
    10. Valeria Cirillo & Marcella Corsi & Carlo D'Ippoliti, 2015. "Gender, class and the crisis," Working Papers CEB 15-026, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    11. Larissa Petrucci, 2020. "Theorizing postfeminist communities: How gender‐inclusive meetups address gender inequity in high‐tech industries," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 545-564, July.
    12. Mehdi Nekhili & Héla Chakroun & Tawhid Chtioui, 2018. "Women’s Leadership and Firm Performance: Family Versus Nonfamily Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 291-316, December.
    13. Kristina Johansson & Elias Andersson & Maria Johansson, 2022. "Restructuring masculinities and reshaping inequalities: Negotiations of (gendered) sales work and relations in an industrial organization," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 1008-1024, July.
    14. Shelly Ronen, 2018. "The postfeminist ideology at work: Endorsing gender essentialism and denying feminine devaluation in the case of design work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5), pages 514-530, September.
    15. 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.
    16. Pascal Back & Andreas Bausch, 2019. "Not If, But How CEOs Affect Product Innovation: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(03), pages 1-52, May.
    17. Gaurav Gupta & Jitendra Mahakud & Vivek Verma, 2020. "CEO's education and investment–cash flow sensitivity: an empirical investigation," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 17(4), pages 589-618, December.
    18. Simon Rafaqat & Sahil Rafaqat & Saoul Rafaqat & Dawood Rafaqat, 2022. "The Impact of Workforce Diversity on Organizational Performance: A Review," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 14(2), pages 39-50.
    19. Yuli Marcela Suárez-Rico & Mauricio Gómez-Villegas & María Antonia García-Benau, 2018. "Exploring Twitter for CSR Disclosure: Influence of CEO and Firm Characteristics in Latin American Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-19, July.
    20. Yvonne Benschop & Patricia Lewis & Ruth Simpson & Nick Rumens, 2017. "Postfeminism, Men, Masculinities and Work: A Research Agenda for Gender and Organization Studies Scholars," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 245-259, May.

    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:29:y:2022:i:1:p:205-221. 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.