Transnational business feminism: Exporting feminism in the global economy

Abstract

Business feminism is a brand of feminism that privileges women's advancement in the corporate hierarchy and centres corporations as the ultimate purveyors of gender equity. While scholars have critiqued this formulation, little empirical research has analysed the processes that guide the dissemination and translation of business feminism in organizational settings within global corporate networks. This article advances scholarship on the global processes that drive the export of business feminism logics. We analyse the process of dissemination of business feminism from the headquarters of multinational corporations to corporate hubs located in Hungary. This process relies on women executives who are charged with translating policies and practices originating in the headquarters of western corporations. In-depth interviews with women executives charged with implementing corporate policies reveal the ways in which business feminism is interpreted, modified and/or resisted by actors within organizational settings.

The toll of success: Female leaders in the “women‐friendly” Greek advertising agencies

“…Such consciousness rises from and is needed within southern contexts (Ozkazanc‐Pan, 2019). Successful, socially aware role‐models should feel compelled and empowered to challenge prevailing stereotypes (Fodor et al., 2019). They are the only ones who can do it.…”

“…Would importing business feminism (Fodor et al., 2019) constitute a plausible strategy? On the one hand, if policies are enforced and executive training is available, things might become easier for women who could also develop more situational awareness.…”

“…The achievements of feminism in late modernity are questioned, calling for further investigation on workplace inequalities (Baker, 2010; Fodor et al., 2019; McRobbie et al., 2019) and among under‐investigated countries (Klarsfield et al., 2019). This study combines both by showing how southern contexts leave their mark even on the most successful, whose point of view is often neglected.…”

Performative contortions: How White women and people of colour navigate elite leadership roles

“…One of the ways in which work bleeds into individuals’ non‐work lives is through heightened demands for ‘body work’ and self‐management (Brunner & Dever, 2014), particularly in highly skilled professional jobs. The ideal professional worker is one who ‘mobilizes her agency and autonomy in order to maximize individual opportunity and advancement’ (Fodor & Glass, 2019, p. 1119; Gill, Kelan, & Scharff, 2017). Thus, equality in the workplace becomes a function not of collective political mobilization and structural change but of the individual’s ability to self‐manage in a way that maximizes one’s inclusion in a White and masculine work culture (Adamson, 2017; Brown, 2005).…”

Challenges of a social enterprise supporting mothers in Hungary

“…Although socialist ideology emphasised equality of genders, in practice, women were rarely seen as equal partners, even when they were appointed to senior managerial or political positions (Fodor, 2004; Fodor et al , 2019). This forced emancipation had contradictory consequences; Nagy (2001) points out that women's presence in the labour market and managerial positions was higher in the 1980s than in Western countries but, at the same time, a conservative family policy meant that women were encouraged to take care of the family and children, called as “refamilisation” in literature (Saxonberg and Sirovátka, 2006), instead of being active in the labour market, and this impacted the post-socialist gender order (Nagy et al , 2017).…”