• Please log in or register to access this feature.
You have free access to this content

Discourses of Work–Life Balance: Negotiating ‘Genderblind’ Terms in Organizations

  1. Janet Smithson*,
  2. Elizabeth H. Stokoe*

Article first published online: 7 FEB 2005

DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0432.2005.00267.x

Issue

Gender, Work & Organization

Gender, Work & Organization

Volume 12, Issue 2, pages 147–168, March 2005

Additional Information

How to Cite

Smithson, J. and Stokoe, E. H. (2005), Discourses of Work–Life Balance: Negotiating ‘Genderblind’ Terms in Organizations. Gender, Work & Organization, 12: 147–168. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0432.2005.00267.x

Author Information

* *Janet Smithson, Department of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Elizabeth Gaskell Campus, Hathersage Rd, Manchester M13 0JA, UK, Tel: +44(0)161 2472546, e-mail: j.smithson@mmu.ac.uk
**Elizabeth Stokoe, Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK, e-mail: e.h.stokoe@lboro.ac.uk

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 7 FEB 2005
  2. Article first published online: 7 FEB 2005

SEARCH

SEARCH BY CITATION

ARTICLE TOOLS

View Full Article (HTML) Get PDF (131K)

References

  • Acker, J. (1990) Hierarchies, jobs, bodies: a theory of gendered organizations, Gender and Society, 4,4, 139–58.
  • Acker, J. (1992) Gendering organizational theory. In Mills, A.J. and Tancred, P. (eds) Gendering Organizational Analysis, pp. 248–60. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
  • Baker, C.D. (2000) Locating culture in action: Membership categorization in texts and talk. In Lee, A. and Poynton, C. (eds) Culture and Text: Discourse and Methodology in Social Research and Cultural Studies, pp. 99–113. London: Routledge.
  • Benschop, Y. and Doorewaard, H. (1998) Covered by equality: The gender subtext of organizations. Organization Studies, 19,5, 787–805.
  • Blair-Loy, M. (2001) Cultural constructions of family schemas: the case of women finance executives. Gender & Society, 15,5, 687–709.
  • Brandth, B. and Kvande, E. (2002) Reflexive fathers: negotiating parental leave and working life. Gender, Work & Organization, 9,2, 186–203.
    Direct Link:
  • Brannen, J., Lewis, S., Nilsen, A. and Smithson, J. (eds) (2002) Young Europeans, Work and Family: Futures in Transition. London: Routledge.
  • Britton, D. (2000) The epistemology of the gendered organization. Gender & Society, 14,3, 418–34.
  • Bryson, V. (1992) Feminist Political Theory: an Introduction. London: Macmillan.
  • Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble. London: Routledge.
  • Butler, J. (1997) Excitable Language. London: Routledge.
  • Cockburn, C. (1991) In The Way of Women: Men's Resistance to Sex Equality in Organizations. London: Macmillan.
  • Cooper, C.L., Lewis, S., Smithson, J. and Dyer, J. (2001) Report on Stage One of Flexible Futures. a Study of Flexible Working and Work–Life Integration in the Accountancy Profession. London: Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
  • Cox, T. (1994) A comment on the language of diversity. Organization, 1,1, 51–8.
  • Crompton, R. and Birkelund, G.E. (2000) Employment and caring in Britain and Norway. Work, Employment and Society, 14,2, 331–52.
  • Dally, G. (1996) Ideologies of Caring. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
  • Department for Education and Employment (2000a) work–life Balance 2000: Baseline Study of work–life Balance Practices in Great Britain. Summary report. DFEE: Sudbury.
  • Department for Education and Employment (2000b) Creating a work–life Balance: a Good Practice Guide for Employers. DFEE: Sudbury.
  • Department for Trade and Industry May (2002) Online at http://www.dti.gov.uk/
  • Dryburgh, H. (1999) Work hard, play hard. Women and professionalization in engineering — adapting to the culture. Gender & Society, 13,5, 664–82.
  • Evans, M. (ed.) (1994) The Woman Question. London: Sage.
  • Faludi, S. (1992) Backlash: the Undeclared War Against Women. London: Chatto and Windus.
  • Grosz, E. (1990) Contemporary theories of power and subjectivity. In Gunew, S. (ed.) Feminist Knowledge: Critique and Construct, pp. 332–44. London: Routledge.
  • Guerrina, R. (2001) Equality, difference and motherhood: the case for a feminist analysis of equal rights and maternity legislation. Journal of Gender Studies, 10,1, 33–42.
  • Haas, L. and Hwang, P. (1995) Company culture and men's usage of family leave benefits in Sweden. Family Relations, 44,1, 28–36.
  • Hare-Mustin, R.T. and Marecek, J. (1994) Gender and the meaning of difference. Postmodernism and psychology. In Herrman, A.C. and Stewart, A.J. (eds) Theorizing Feminism: Parallel Trends in the Humanities and the Social Sciences, pp. 49–76. Oxford: Westview.
  • Hogarth, T., Hasluck, C., Pierre, G., Winterbotham, M. and Vivian, D. (2000) work–life Balance 2000: Baseline Study of work–life Balance Practices in Great Britain. London: DfEE.
  • Hopper, R. and LeBaron, C. (1998) How gender creeps into talk. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 31,3, 59–74.
  • Hughes, C. (2002) Key Concepts in Feminist Theory and Research. London: Sage.
  • Jefferson, G. (1990) List-construction as a task and a resource. In Psathas, G. (ed.) Interaction Competence, pp. 63–92. Washington, DC: University Press of America.
  • Kandola, R. and Fullerton, J. (1994) Managing the Mosaic. London: Institute of Personnel and Development.
  • Kanter, R.M. (1977) Men and Women of the Corporation. New York: Basic Books.
  • Lewis, S. (1991) Motherhood and employment: the impact of social and organizational values. In Phoenix, A., Woollett, A. and Lloyd, E. Motherhood: Meanings, Practices and Ideologies, pp. 195–215. London: Sage.
  • Lewis, S. (1997) Family friendly policies. A route to changing organizational change or playing around at the margins. Gender, Work & Organization, 4, 13–23.
    Direct Link:
  • Lewis, S. (2001) Restructuring workplace cultures: the ultimate work-family challenge? Women in Management Review, 16,1, 21–9.
  • Liff, S. (1996) Managing Diversity: New Opportunities for Women? Warwick Papers in Industrial Relations No. 57. Coventry: Industrial Relations Research Unit.
  • Liff, S. and Cameron, I. (1997) Changing equality cultures to move beyond ‘women's problems’. Gender, Work & Organization, 4,1, 35–46.
    Direct Link:
  • Liff, S. and Ward, K. (2001) Distorted views through the glass ceiling: the construction of women's understandings of promotion and senior management positions. Gender, Work & Organization, 8,1, 19–36.
    Direct Link:
  • Linnehan, F. and Konrad, A. (1999) Diluting diversity: implications for intergroup equality in organizations. Journal of Management Inquiry, 8,4, 399–414.
  • Lorbiecki, A. and Jack, G. (2000) Critical turns in the evolution of diversity management. British Journal of Management, 11,1, 17–31.
    Direct Link:
  • McIlwee, J.S. and Robinson, J.G. (1992) Women in engineering: Gender, power and workplace culture. Albany: State University of New York Press.
  • Maier, M. (2000) On the gendered substructure of organization. Dimensions and dilemmas of corporate masculinity. In Powell, G. (ed.) Handbook Of Gender and Work. London: Sage.
  • Martin, J. (1990) Deconstructing organizational taboos: the suppression of gender conflict in organizations. Organization Science, 1,1, 1–21.
  • Martin, P.Y. and Collinson, D. (2002) ‘Over the pond and across the water’: developing the field of ‘gendered organizations’. Gender, Work & Organization, 9,3, 244–65.
    Direct Link:
  • Mills, A. (2002) Studying the gendering of organizational culture over time: concerns, issues and strategies. Gender, Work & Organization, 9,3, 286–307.
    Direct Link:
  • Moi, T. (1999) What is a Woman? Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Napoli, J. (1994) Work and Family Responsibilities: Adjusting the Balance. CCH Australia: Sydney.
  • Nyberg, A. (2003) Economic Crisis and the Sustainability of the Dual Earner Dual Carer Model. Paper presented at ESRC Seminar, ‘Work, Life and Time in the New Economy’. Manchester, October 2003.
  • Phillips, A. (ed) (1987) Feminism and Equality. Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Pomerantz, A. (1986) Extreme case formulations. Human Studies, 9,3, 219–29.
  • Rapoport, R., Bailyn, L., Fletcher, J.K. and Pruitt, B.H. (2002) Beyond Work-Family Balance: Advancing Gender Equity and Workplace Performance. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
  • Rollin, H. and Burrell, J. (2000) Equal opportunities at work in France and Spain: theory and reality. In Sperling, L. and Owen, M. (eds) Women and Work. The Age of Post-Feminism? pp. 37–52. Aldershot: Ashgate.
  • Rutherford, S. (2001) Organizational cultures, women managers and exclusion. Women in Management Review, 16,8, 371–82.
  • Sacks, H. (1992) Lectures on Conversation (Vols. I and II, GailJefferson[ed.]). Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Scott, J. (1988) Deconstructing equality-versus-difference: or, the uses of poststructuralist theory for feminism. Feminist Studies, 14,1, 33–50.
  • Sheridan, A. and Conway, L. (2001) Workplace flexibility: reconciling the needs of employers and employees. Women in Management Review, 16,1, 5–11.
  • Sinclair, A. (2000) Women within diversity: risks and possibilities. Women in Management Review, 15,5/6, 237–45.
  • Smithson, J. (1999) Equal choices, different futures: young adults talk about work and family expectations. Psychology of Women Section Review, 1,2, 43–57.
  • Smithson, J., Lewis, S., Cooper, C. and Dyer, J. (2004) Flexible working and the gender pay gap in the accountancy profession. Work, Employment and Society, 18,1, 115–35.
  • Stokoe, E.H. and Smithson, J. (2001) Making gender relevant: conversation analysis and gender categories in interaction. Discourse and Society, 12,2, 243–69.
  • Stokoe, E.H. (2004) Gender and discourse, gender and categorization: current developments in language and gender research. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 1,2, 107–29.
  • Stringer, J.L. and Hopper, R. (1998) Generic he in conversation? Quarterly Journal of Speech, 84,2, 209–21.
  • Tainio, L. (2002) Negotiating gender identities and sexual agency in elderly couples’ talk. In McIlvenny, P. (ed.) Talking Gender and Sexuality: Conversation, Performativity and Discourse in Interaction, pp. 181–206. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Wacjman, J. (1998) Managing like a Man: Women and Men in Corporate Management, Polity Press, Oxford.
  • Watson, R. and Weinberg, T. (1982) Interviews and the interactional construction of accounts of homosexual identity. Social Analysis, 11,1, 56–78.
  • Wetherell, M. (1998) Positioning and interpretative repertoires: conversation analysis and post-structuralism in dialogue. Discourse and Society, 9,3, 387–412.
  • Young, M. (1999) Work-family backlash. Begging the question, what's fair? Annals of the American Academy of Political Science, 562, 32–46.
View Full Article (HTML) Get PDF (131K)