Inequality Regimes and Men's Positions in Social Work

Abstract

The aim of this article is to contribute to the exploration of men's positions in professions numerically dominated by women through an in depth analysis of the gendering practices in groups of social workers. The empirical material consists of interviews with three work groups in Sweden, each with one man and several women as members. The analysis focuses upon gendering practices in the interview setting. It shows how the positions occupied by the men in the sample confirm or undermine constructions of masculinity as dominance. Furthermore, it is argued that to fully understand men's positions in these groups the analysis needs take other forms of inequality into account in addition to gender. It is shown that in the empirical cases under scrutiny men's positions are shaped by regimes of inequality where age and gender relations, as well as notions of professional experience, are interconnected.

Boundaried Caring and Gendered Emotion Management in Hospice Work

“…Workers may perform femininity through activities presumed to be natural aptitudes for women: establishing relationships with care charges (Rodriquez, ), being empathetic (Nicolai and Demmel, ), providing companionship and support (Aronson and Neysmith, ) and treating those in need as they would their own family members (Dodson and Zincavage, ; Stacey, ). However, workers also likely perform masculinity through activities presumed to be natural aptitudes for men: keeping cool during times of stress (Connell, ; Connell and Messerschmidt, ), unconditional devotion to the difficult and long hours of medicine (Kellogg, ; Ozbilgin et al ., ; Walsh, ), responding to problems cognitively (Dahlkild‐Ohman and Eriksson, ), developing technical skill (Calasanti and King, ; Doucet, ) and distancing selves from emotionality (Clark, ). These studies show that feminine and masculine qualities are both enacted in caring work.…”

Gender and Disability in Male‐Dominated Occupations: A Social Relational Model

“…Understanding gender practices is key to social relational models of gender (Connell, 2012). Increasingly, interest has turned to understanding men's gendered working lives, revealing men's dominance to be temporal and contextual (Dahlkild-Öhman and Eriksson, 2013). Further, there are professional penalties for men who attempt to challenge gendered norms in relation to the household division of labour (Sang et al, 2014).…”

“…A growing body of literature critically examines men's experiences of work and constructions of masculinity, revealing the importance of social networks, homosociality and a public-private divide to maintaining men's dominance in the workplace (Bradley, 2007;Collinson and Hearn, 1994). Examination of men's experiences shows gender practices privilege certain men over others while maintaining women's inequality (Dahlkild-Öhman and Eriksson, 2013;Sang et al, 2014). Further, there have been calls to understand the social relational aspects of 'impairment', disability and ableism within organizational contexts (Williams and Mavin, 2012).…”

The Theory and Praxis of Intersectionality in Work and Organisations: Where Do We Go From Here?

“…This perspective was adopted by scholars in the field (e.g. Dahlkild‐Öhman and Eriksson, ; Healy et al . ; Pease, ; Sasson‐Levy, ; Zanoni and Janssens, ) and saw the emergence of a body of work that examined systematic workplace disparities in the control and power of organizational goals, processes, resources and outcomes.…”