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Title page for ETD etd-10172009-115459
Document
Type
Doctoral Thesis
Author Pauw, Annalie
Email [email protected]
URN etd-10172009-115459
DocumentTitle
A qualitative exploration of gendered discourses of South
African womenin middle management
Degree PhD
Department
Psychology
Supervisor
Advisor Name Title
Prof T M Bakker Supervisor
Keywords the discursive construction of gender in
organisat gender equity in organisations organisational
discourse women in management gender discourse
analysis discourse feminism social
constructionism contradiction gender and identity
Date 2009-09-01
Availability
unrestricted
Abstract This study is a qualitative exploration of the
gendered discourses of South Africanwomen in middle management. It
explores the locations and perspectives from whichmiddle management
women speak, the institutions and traditions that inform their
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discourses and the challenges to dominant discourses on gender
present in their talk. Itis conducted from a social constructionist
framework.
The broader South African context is fraught with a
contradiction between policy andpractice. South Africa’s
progressive constitution does not erode women’s tenuous
and
vulnerable position as is seen in the high incidence of violence
against women, sexualharassment and women’s specific vulnerability
to and rates of HIV infection. Thiscontradiction is also evident in
the labour market where South Africa echoes a globaltendency of the
continuation of gender stratification in the workplace. This
ischaracterised by a tendency towards gender traditional
occupations, a continuing wagegap, discontinued career paths for
women, gender stratification of task division at workand unequal
work division on the home front. This results in continued
genderstratification of management and executive management
positions. Women make upapproximately 50% of the global,
economically active population yet they have not beensuccessful in
entering the management world with the same proportion.
Using social constructionism and a focus on discourse, this
study examines thediscursive construction of the gender
stratification of the workplace. It starts by exploringhow
available literature on the topic constructs the problem as related
to internal andindividual matters, societal and social factors or
organisational and institutionalprocesses. It further explores the
developments in the field of gender, discourse
andorganisations.
Interview data from semi-structured interviews with women in
middle management areanalysed using discourse analysis. Different
and contradicting discourses emerge fromthis analysis illustrating
different discourses and associated identity positions availableto
women. The discourse analysis shows how different and contradicting
discourses
support the status quo by structuring certain subject positions
into desirable explicationsof femininity but also how these
contradictions allow space for resistance. The studyargues that
establishing a feminine identity remains vital to participants and
that thisrequires ‘identity footwork’ within complex and
contradictory discursive positions.
© 2009, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The
copyright in this work vests in theUniversity of Pretoria. No part
of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any formor by any
means, without the prior written permission of the University of
Pretoria.
Please cite as follows:
Pauw, A 2009, A qualitative exploration of gendered
discourses of South African womenin middle management , PhD
thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed
yymmdd <http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-10172009-115459/
>
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