The Gendered Nature of Managerial Discourse: the Case of a Local Authority

Abstract

This paper is a response to organizational analysis which highlights the significance of discursive processes in the formation of occupational gender identity. A recurrent weakness in many of these accounts is their focus on the simple dualisms which structure gendered discourse. This tendency is often associated with the abstraction of debate from specific organizational settings. I aim therefore to address the question of the gendered nature of managerial discourse with reference to a case study of a local authority under restructuring. I argue here that the gendered nature of managerial discourse has to be seen as particularly complex, given the way in which it incorporates both ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ identities within an overarching managerial ethos, which is itself related to wider hegemonic projects. Copyright © 1995, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved