Gender Cage - revisited: Reconfiguration of organizational Gender Differences in postmodern societies

Swiss National Science Foundation

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

Austrian Science Fund

The basic transformation of modern industrial societies includes a change of gender relationships. Our project focuses on organizations which are in the center stage of these developments. They do not only play a major role in producing the ¿rational myths¿ of hierarchy, rather they also participate in the ¿de-thematization¿ of gender hierarchies. To further investigate inner organizational interpretations and transformations of societal expectations, a new observation and analysis tool will be developed. It is assumed that the dynamic of societal expectations ¿ that are reflected in the reconstruction of gender regimes ¿ as well as the dynamic of necessary organizational transformations (to fulfill their functions), proves to be a catalyst for the modification of gender relations in organizations. Thus, our research refers to the strategies and practices organizations apply in order to deal with societal pressure for equality. Based on a multi-level-analysis and a mixed method approach (including qualitative and quantitative methods) various types of organizations will be analyzed. The aim of this analysis is to identify changes in gender relationships along the lines of gender differences and (formal) hierarchy, and to compare the country specific results from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.