Stereotyping gender
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Inger Lassen
Abstract
This paper takes its starting point in the problem faced by a specific Danish bank that women are grossly underrepresented in management positions, in spite of the great measure of initiatives taken over more than a century to ensure equal opportunities in Denmark. Danish women got the vote in 1915. Since then emancipation has been encouraged through public policy, symbolized more recently by the establishment of a Ministry for Equal Opportunities in 1999 and the passing of the Act of Equal Opportunities in 2002. However, although these initiatives have led to a situation of formal gender equality, there is still some way to go before genuine gender equality and emancipation may become reality, in spite of Denmark’s image as egalitarian society. To try to explain this paradox, the paper explores gender perceptions by analysing how men and women talk about gender in focus group discussions and how the two gender categories evaluate themselves and the Other in their quest for social identities. Analysis of the focus group data indicates that, more often than not, the interviewees resort to stereotyping in their construction of identities. Using the Appraisal framework (Martin and White 2005) for analysing stereotypical categorizations made by the interviewees, the article argues that employees in the bank tend to reproduce and perpetuate a patriarchal management system in spite of various forces pulling in a new post-patriarchal direction where gender is just one of many identities.
Abstract
This paper takes its starting point in the problem faced by a specific Danish bank that women are grossly underrepresented in management positions, in spite of the great measure of initiatives taken over more than a century to ensure equal opportunities in Denmark. Danish women got the vote in 1915. Since then emancipation has been encouraged through public policy, symbolized more recently by the establishment of a Ministry for Equal Opportunities in 1999 and the passing of the Act of Equal Opportunities in 2002. However, although these initiatives have led to a situation of formal gender equality, there is still some way to go before genuine gender equality and emancipation may become reality, in spite of Denmark’s image as egalitarian society. To try to explain this paradox, the paper explores gender perceptions by analysing how men and women talk about gender in focus group discussions and how the two gender categories evaluate themselves and the Other in their quest for social identities. Analysis of the focus group data indicates that, more often than not, the interviewees resort to stereotyping in their construction of identities. Using the Appraisal framework (Martin and White 2005) for analysing stereotypical categorizations made by the interviewees, the article argues that employees in the bank tend to reproduce and perpetuate a patriarchal management system in spite of various forces pulling in a new post-patriarchal direction where gender is just one of many identities.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Gender imbalances revisited 1
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Part I. Patriarchy and emancipation in private spaces
- “He beat her so hard she fell head over heels” 17
- The discursive construction of gender among Dholuo speakers in Kenya 49
- Snippa – a new word for girls’ genitals in Swedish 69
- What it means to be a Bosnian woman 81
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Part II. Mediating gender in public spaces
- Greek men’s and women’s magazines as codes of gender conduct 113
- Representation of desire and femininity 145
- Gendered discourse(s) 169
- Gender ideologies in the Vietnamese printed media 195
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Part III. Trajectories of patriarchy and emancipation across professions
- Constructing masculine work identity through narrative 219
- Stereotyping gender 249
- Living in therapeutic culture 273
- Index 303
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Gender imbalances revisited 1
-
Part I. Patriarchy and emancipation in private spaces
- “He beat her so hard she fell head over heels” 17
- The discursive construction of gender among Dholuo speakers in Kenya 49
- Snippa – a new word for girls’ genitals in Swedish 69
- What it means to be a Bosnian woman 81
-
Part II. Mediating gender in public spaces
- Greek men’s and women’s magazines as codes of gender conduct 113
- Representation of desire and femininity 145
- Gendered discourse(s) 169
- Gender ideologies in the Vietnamese printed media 195
-
Part III. Trajectories of patriarchy and emancipation across professions
- Constructing masculine work identity through narrative 219
- Stereotyping gender 249
- Living in therapeutic culture 273
- Index 303
