“Said and Done” Versus “Saying and Doing”

Abstract

Recently, the study of gender has focused on processes by which gender is brought into social relations through interaction. This article explores implications of a two-sided dynamic-gendering practices and practicing of gender-for understanding gendering processes in formal organizations. Using stories from interviews and participant observation in multinational corporations, the author explores the practicing of gender at work. She defines practicing gender as a moving phenomenon that is done quickly, directionally (in time), and (often) nonreflexively; is informed (often) by liminal awareness; and is in concert with others. She notes how other conceptions of gender dynamics and practice inform the analysis and argues that adequate conceptualization (and potential elimination) of harmful aspects of gendering practices/practicing will require attention to (1) agency, intentionality, awareness, and reflexivity; (2) positions, power, and experience; and (3) choice, accountability, and audience. She calls for incorporating the "sayings and doings" of gender into organization theory and research.More than a decade ago, social science and humanities scholars started conceptualizing gender as a dynamic process, as practice, as what people say and do, in addition to such static properties as an identity, social status, what is learned via socialization, a system of stratification, and so on. This development occurred rapidly. I wrote an article in the late 1980s in which I used the term gendering to mean gender/ gendered practices in a way that was unconventional at the time (Yancey Martin

Gender Gaps in Overestimation of Math Performance

“…Disciplinary norms in STEM fields dictate that scientists are decisive, methodical, objective, unemotional, competitive, and assertive-characteristics associated with men and masculinity (Martin 2001(Martin , 2003Miller 2004). Because STEM fields are stereotypically associated with men and masculinity, women perceive them as antithetical to themselves as female and that they do not belong in those contexts (Cheryan et al 2009).…”

Bourdieu and organizational analysis

“…The implications for the study of intraorganizational behavior are clear: any attempt to establish the relations among members of the organization must attend not only to "internal" organizational structure, but also to the relations between the organization-asfield and the larger complex of fields within which it is embedded. 41 40 One direction in which such inquiry might certainly lead is toward an analysis of gendered dispositions and actions within everyday organizational life; for earlier such studies, see not only the aforementioned work by Kanter, but also Acker (1990) and Martin (2003). 41 Despite important differences in their theoretical frameworks, Bourdieu's emphasis on the link between actors' external trajectories and their position-takings within an organization is anticipated by Crozier's (1967) analysis of the relation between employees' extra-organizational "social status" and their attitudes toward their work in a French clerical agency.…”

“…The neo-Marxist tradition in organizational studies (e.g., Burawoy 1979) always highlighted class relations within organizational life. More recently, authors such as Acker (1990) and Martin (2003)-inspired by the seminal work of Kanter (1977)-have devoted increasing analytic attention to gender-based relations. Still somewhat weak in organizational analysis, by comparison, has been the investigation of race and the study of intersections among class, gender, and race.…”

How Can We Define Mastery? Reflections on Learning, Embodiment and Professional Identity

“…The issues of identity related to the body have especially emerged in gender and diversity studies (Christie, 2006;Gherardi & Poggio, 2001;Martin, 2001Martin, , 2003 and in studies that seek to analyze disciplinary power relations within organizational dynamics (Collinson, 2003;Fleming & Spicer, 2003;Flores-Pereira, Davel, & Cavedon, 2008;Hodgson, 2005). Albeit these are invaluable contributions to the study of body BAR, Rio de Janeiro, v. 12, n. 4, art.…”