Creating and recreating gender order in organizations

This article examines the organizational dynamics responsible for maintaining the gender asymmetry in organizations, by considering the narratives of women and men working in male dominated jobs and positions. Using a symbolic-interpretative approach we analyze the rules and the rituals by which gender is created and recreated in organizations and we show the ambiguity that characterizes social expectations towards women entering traditionally male territories. We present gender as a set of social practices which define the relations between men and women and which, in the organizations that we studied, are based on a dichotomous and hierarchical symbolic order. Viewing gender as something organizations 'do' and not as a natural attribute of people, can help organizational actors, and in particular the management, to be aware of the hegemonic masculinity underlying the dominant social practices and, therefore, to change the strategies for change.