1. CH11 Organizational Behavior 261 Gabrielle Durepos
Sex at Work
CH11
Organizational Behavior 261
Gabrielle Durepos

2. Reminders Attendance Group Papers due now at the front of class
Marking group work will be done ASAP
All your group work might be returned at the final exam; one large envelope per group
Presentations & Critiques begin on Wednesday
See MOODLE for schedule
Section 13 – See MOODLE for minor changes to presentation schedule
Group 2 presents first
Group 8 critiques group 6 (and not group 1)
Final Exam
NON- Cumulative
Format: Short Answer & MC
Written in the Oland gym
Dec 13th 7-9pm

3. Outline Sex and organizational life… why should we care?
Toward an understanding of:
Sex
Gender
Sexuality
Quick Exercise
…And why we should care
Approaches to OB Focused on Gender:
Liberal Feminism
Radical Feminism
Issues in sex and organizational research
Gendered Research?
Equity Issues
Sex Power and Authority Issues
Conclusions

4. Sex and Organizational Life… Why Should I Care?
Sex discrimination is outdated… employment equity is now a fact of life…
AND… if anything, the white heterosexual able-bodied male is now the target of discrimination
By always talking about sex, gender and sexuality at work and its negative implications for women… the inequities are reinforced, which makes things worst, not better…
A focus on the continuance of workplace inequities can suggest that few strides have been made, and it is not even worth trying…
But to get to the issues surrounding gender and work, we need to understand:
Sex
Gender
Sexuality

5. The biological differences between men and women
SEX
The biological differences between men and women

6. GENDER
The various assumptions, associations and characteristics that we come to associate with ‘what it means to’ be a man or woman
We get these cues from interacting within society
Our socialization within particular cultures influences the way we make sense of what it means to be a:
Man
Woman

7. SEXUALITY A persons sexual self
Those aspects of a person that make them sexually attractive or appealing to another

8. We are born with certain biological features (SEX), and using these features as a basis, people attribute particular characteristics to the person (GENDER).
An important part of becoming a “man” or “woman” involves assumptions about the physical attractiveness of that person (SEXUALITY)

9. Quick Exercise 1/6 Look at the images:
What is the sex of the individuals depicted?
Can you list characteristics that describe their gender?
Can you tell me things about their sexuality?
Is the sexuality of some of the individuals depicted more pronounced?

10. Quick Exercise 2/6

11. Quick Exercise 3/6

12. Quick Exercise 4/6

13. Quick Exercise 5/6

14. Quick Exercise 6/6 Look at the images:
What is the sex of the individuals depicted?
Can you list characteristics that describe their gender?
Can you tell me things about their sexuality?
Is the sexuality of some of the individuals depicted more pronounced?

15. And why we should we care… 1/4
Organizations are powerful contexts in which we spend most of our lives
Organizations are important sites which contribute to and shape how we make sense of what it means to be a:
Man
Woman
We have come to associate certain types of work with:
Masculinity
Femininity

16. And why we should we care… 2/4 Sexual Division of Labour
In 2008, women make up 47.1% of the labour force
By sector – Goods & Services
2008 – 66% of working women are employed in service sector work
By Authority
2008 – women hold 13% of board seats in FP500 firms
2008 – women hold 16.9% of corporate officer positions in FP500 firms
2008 – women hold 26% of senior management positions
2008 – women hold 36% of other management positions
Part time work & Full time work
% of working women are involved in part-time work
Paid vs. unpaid labour (domestic)
2008 – women make up 47.1% of the labour force
Women bear the greater responsibility for child and elder care (unpaid labour)
In 2004, women earn, on average, 81.6 cents for every dollar earned by men
The sexual division of labour might explain the pay gap between men and women

17. And why we should we care… 3/4
IF organizations contribute to the way we
understand what it means to be a:
Man
Woman
AND if women are devalued at work due to being:
Underrepresented
Paid less
Only suitable for particular forms
of work…
… THEN this contributes to the way we come to understand:
Women and Men at work
Women’s work and Men’s work

18. And why we should we care… 4/4
Our view of what it means to be a man and a women influences the way we behave at work
This can lead to:
Sexual harassment
In its most explicit form is any type of unwanted attention of a sexual nature
Can be physical, verbal or otherwise suggestive in nature
Is a form of sexual discrimination
The devaluing of certain forms of sexual orientations
Prohibition (explicit) and norms (embedded in the culture) against homosexuality
Can lead to law suits or individual stress

19. Approaches to OB focused on Gender: The Feminist Approach
Feminist organizational studies is dedicated to understanding:
The experience of work from the woman’s point of view
Concern with identifying and exposing processes of sexual discrimination
Feminist OB investigates the impact of:
Individual men; individual women
Groups of men; groups of women
Masculinist values and behavior and feminist values and behavior
Within organizations to address and expose sexual discrimination
There are many different forms of feminism

20. Approaches to OB focused on Gender: The Liberal Feminist
From the woman’s point of view
Concern: there are not enough females in the workplace
How to bring in more women at work?
How to include them in senior management roles?
Focus on:
Body counting, focus on overt changes
Similar to Women in Management
(mentioned later)

21. Approaches to OB focused on Gender: The Radical Feminist 1/3
From the point of view of the woman's experience
The workplace is DOMINATED by traditionally masculine associated characteristics
The workplace CELEBRATES traditionally masculine associated characteristics
Who BUILT the market economy in which we operate?
Male dominated until the second world war…
Is it a surprise that masculine traits are privileged by a system built primarily by males?

22. Approaches to OB focused on Gender: The Radical Feminist 2/3
The radical feminist asks:
What is privileged in the workplace?
Competitiveness; Aggression; Winning at any cost; Progress; Faster and better and more efficient; Execution; Strong; Be tough; Untouchable; Don’t let things get to you; rise above; Do not let your emotions get in the way; be rational
What is not privileged in the workplace?
Nurture; Care; Emotions; ….
Which of these lists of characteristics are
associated with what it means in our Western society to be:
Male?
female?

23. Approaches to OB focused on Gender: The Radical Feminist 3/3
The radical feminist would tell us:
The problem is not so much that there are not enough women in the workplace
It is rather the women who ARE THERE MUST abandon or temporarily hide their “feminine” characteristics to do well or advance to the next level of the hierarchy
Women must act like men to get ahead because femininity is not valued in the workplace!

24. Issues in sex and organizational research: Gendered Research? 1/3
Sex and Gender are not only a feature of work but also an important SUBJECT of STUDY
Much of organizational research has been undertaken by male researchers
But it has been assumed as gender neutral
Not much acknowledgment about who is being studied, women or men?
Assume that women and men respond in the same way at work
What about the “power relationship” between the researchers and subjects?
Assume that research findings about men at work would be the same when applied to women – and vice versa

25. Issues in sex and organizational research: Gendered Research: The Hawthorn Studies 2/3
Roethlisberger and Dickson: The Hawthorn Studies at Western Electric
The study:
Group 1 (control): the bank wiring room – they continue their work as usual
Group 2 (experimental): the relay assembly test room – are taken out of their normal environment, closely supervised, told to improve productivity and given individual attention
Conclusion:
People are motivated by social as well as economic rewards
Look at group membership and how this affects behavior
Work studies should focus:
On factors of “human relations”
On communication, participation, leadership

26. Researchers did not perceive gender as affecting results
Issues in sex and organizational research: Gendered Research: The Hawthorn Studies 2/2
Gender was completely left out of this study and its conclusions
Group 1 was an all male group
Group 2 was an all female group
Who were young, unmarried, immigrants, very likely to comply…
All researchers and supervisors (in positions of authority) were men
They supposedly gave the experimental group a “choice” to participate
Researchers did not perceive gender as affecting results

27. Issues in sex and organizational research: Equity Issues
Employment equity is recognized in our Western Industrial world
Although there have been many positive changes for women, some consider the change slow
Researchers examine the workplace for clues to understand issues of sexual discrimination at work
Communication
Culture (Hofstede)
Pathways (Gutek & Larwood: careers)

28. Issues in sex and organizational research: Sex, Power and Authority Issues 1/2
Women in Management (WIM)
Looks for inequities in the workplace
Problem: not enough women in the workplace
Focus on: body counting
Focus on:
Woman’s circumstances at work: issues of sexual harassment
Barriers to entry
The glass ceiling: How to rise in the current hierarchal structures?
This research focuses on sex differences
Women are as such because of their biological differences
Men are as such because of their biological differences
This approach is under attack by many “gender” scholars
Because they argue that the biological differences are just a start – it is how we are socialized that forms the bulk of discrimination and problems at work

29. Masculinity Men are to act as “real men”
Issues in sex and organizational research: Sex, Power and Authority Issues 2/2
Masculinity
Men are to act as “real men”
What is the impact on a man who espouses more feminine associated traits?
Notions of excessive competitiveness and aggression
Can these be detrimental to organizational outcomes?
The Challenger Disaster 1986

30. Conclusions Should we even bother studying gender at work?
Is this topic irrelevant?
Is it too much of a fight – should we just quit now?
Women are more equal now than they have ever been – why are they still complaining…?
The real problem now is equality for men…?
There is no one best approach to study gender at work
Organizations affect the way we construct our gender and sexuality
Through education about gender, sexuality and sex at work we can redress work practices that are detrimental to individuals