Post #14

Britton states that organizations are completely gendered and these gendered organizations exist because of the combination of their organizational structure, culture, and agency. Britton argues that the combination of these three factors contributes to the gender wage gap and limits put on women who pursue non-traditional careers.

Organization gendering is affected by the organizational structure, which is based on the division of labor between private labor and public labor. This is what Britton means when she states “organizations are gendered at the level of structure.” Britton says “in a very basic sense, organizations build on and reproduce a division of labor between the public and private spheres, between production and reproduction” (p. 7). Organizations, according to Britton, rigidly separate the work lives and “private” lives of their employees, but this separation or division only applies to an ideal person. Because women are considered responsible for domestic labor, including childcare and housework, their private lives often “spill over into their working days” which isn’t ideal. So work, according to Britton, is “based on notions about gender and sustain[s] its reproduction.” This means that women are forced to search for jobs that will accommodate their needs and must sometimes compromise upward job mobility. But, this excludes women from pursuing jobs that pay higher wages, because most require workers for certain hours and do not tolerate the intertwining of private and public spheres. One of the women Britton interviewed said that when she was put up for promotion, she declined because she felt as though she had no time for herself or her family. Policymakers have tried to focus on these issues by passing such bills as the Family Medical Leave Act, which allows people to leave work to care for ailing family members.

Organizations culturally reproduce gender stereotypes through “images, symbols, and ideologies that justify, explain, and give legitimacy to” an organization. A great example that Britton used was the idea/image of the military being the “place where boys are turned into men.”

Gendered organizations also employ agency. Agency includes “all the interactions in which workers are involved that intentionally or not, invoke gender or reproduce gender inequality, as well as processes of identity construction through which individuals come to see themselves as ‘appropriately’ gendered through their work.” Essentially this involves men and women working in their own gender-based interest. It is essentially upholding hegemonic notions. Examples of this include, as Britton suggests, sexual harassment and denying job training. Agency could also be considered “doing gender” or considering themselves the example of feminine or masculine.