IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/gender/v29y2022i2p443-465.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Feminism through the market? A study of gender‐equality consultants in France

Author

Listed:
  • Soline Blanchard

Abstract

This article explores the professional subjectivities of gender‐equality (GE) consultants in France based on 63 interviews. A central concern is how these experts shape positions when working on a topic at the crossroads of personal, political, and economic stakes – in organizational and business contexts that are reluctant to embrace any feminist‐like perspective. Questioning the rationales for entering this market activity, the ways to embody professional work and service impact self‐assessment, the analysis highlights the tensions and dilemmas experienced by GE consultants in terms of aligning convictions and business imperatives, and the pragmatic and variable arrangements they make on a daily basis to put GE principles into practice. This research documents GE work by reanalyzing colliding dyads such as work/activism, professionalism/feminism, co‐optation/resistance, and by reviewing the use of market logics in subverting the existing gender/economic order. It draws a nuanced picture of the constraints and opportunities that GE consulting offers to destabilize power from within organizations.

Suggested Citation

  • Soline Blanchard, 2022. "Feminism through the market? A study of gender‐equality consultants in France," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 443-465, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:29:y:2022:i:2:p:443-465
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12770
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12770
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/gwao.12770?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. Debra E. Meyerson & Maureen A. Scully, 1995. "Crossroads Tempered Radicalism and the Politics of Ambivalence and Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 6(5), pages 585-600, October.
    3. Charikleia Tzanakou & Ruth Pearce, 2019. "Moderate feminism within or against the neoliberal university? The example of Athena SWAN," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(8), pages 1191-1211, August.
    4. Freya Johnson Ross, 2019. "Professional feminists: Challenging local government inside out," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 520-540, May.
    5. 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.
    6. Elisabeth Pr�gl & Jacqui True, 2014. "Equality means business? Governing gender through transnational public-private partnerships," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(6), pages 1137-1169, December.
    7. Pauline Cullen & Myra Marx Ferree & Mieke Verloo, 2019. "Introduction to special issue: Gender, knowledge production and knowledge work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(6), pages 765-771, June.
    8. Kate Grosser & Lauren McCarthy, 2019. "Imagining new feminist futures: How feminist social movements contest the neoliberalization of feminism in an increasingly corporate‐dominated world," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(8), pages 1100-1116, August.
    9. Ea Høg Utoft, 2021. "Maneuvering within postfeminism: A study of gender equality practitioners in Danish academia," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 301-317, January.
    10. Lucien Karpik, 2010. "Valuing the Unique: The Economics of Singularities," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9215.
    11. Patricia Lewis & Maria Adamson & Ingrid Biese & Elisabeth Kelan, 2019. "Introduction to special issue: Exploring the emergence of moderate feminism(s) in contemporary organizations," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(8), pages 1063-1072, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. 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.
    2. Kate Grosser & Meagan Tyler, 2022. "Sexual Harassment, Sexual Violence and CSR: Radical Feminist Theory and a Human Rights Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(2), pages 217-232, May.
    3. 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.
    4. Kate Grosser, 2021. "Gender, business and human rights: Academic activism as critical engagement in neoliberal times," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 1624-1637, July.
    5. Budabin, Alexandra Cosima & Hudson, Natalie F., 2021. "Sisterhood partnerships for conflict-related sexual violence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    6. Kirsten Locke & Rebecca W. B. Lund & Susan Wright, 2021. "Rethinking gender equity in the contaminated university: A methodology for listening for music in the ruins," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 1079-1097, May.
    7. Hussain, Simon & Liu, Lana Yan Jun & Miller, Anthony D., 2020. "Accounting as a dichotomised discipline: An analysis of the source materials used in the construction of accounting articles," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    8. Pollock, Neil & D'Adderio, Luciana & Williams, Robin & Leforestier, Ludovic, 2018. "Conforming or transforming? How organizations respond to multiple rankings," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 55-68.
    9. Michel Anteby & Curtis K. Chan, 2018. "A Self-Fulfilling Cycle of Coercive Surveillance: Workers’ Invisibility Practices and Managerial Justification," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(2), pages 247-263, April.
    10. David M. Waguespack & Robert Salomon, 2016. "Quality, Subjectivity, and Sustained Superior Performance at the Olympic Games," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(1), pages 286-300, January.
    11. Tinglong Dai & Sridhar Tayur, 2022. "Designing AI‐augmented healthcare delivery systems for physician buy‐in and patient acceptance," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(12), pages 4443-4451, December.
    12. Elisa Alt & Justin B. Craig, 2016. "Selling Issues with Solutions: Igniting Social Intrapreneurship in for-Profit Organizations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(5), pages 794-820, July.
    13. Thais França & Filipa Godinho & Beatriz Padilla & Mara Vicente & Lígia Amâncio & Ana Fernandes, 2023. "“Having a family is the new normal”: Parenting in neoliberal academia during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 35-51, January.
    14. Katherine C. Kellogg, 2012. "Making the Cut: Using Status-Based Countertactics to Block Social Movement Implementation and Microinstitutional Change in Surgery," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(6), pages 1546-1570, December.
    15. Svetlova, Ekaterina, 2018. "Value without valuation? An example of the cocos market," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 69-78.
    16. Plante, Maude & Free, Clinton & Andon, Paul, 2021. "Making artworks valuable: Categorisation and modes of valuation work," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    17. Michael D. Santonino III, 2024. "Humanistic Supervisors as Change Agents—The Core of an Organization," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 417-430, December.
    18. Ronan Le Velly & Frédéric Goulet, 2015. "Revisiting the Importance of Detachment in the Dynamics of Competition," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(6), pages 689-704, December.
    19. Julian Hamann & Wolfgang Kaltenbrunner, 2022. "Biographical representation, from narrative to list: The evolution of curricula vitae in the humanities, 1950 to 2010," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 31(4), pages 438-451.
    20. Hayfaa A. Tlaiss & Maura McAdam, 2023. "Muslim feminists and entrepreneurship at times and in contexts of crises," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 1759-1784, September.

    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:2:p:443-465. 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.