Einde inhoudsopgave
Female representation at the corporate top (IVOR nr. 126) 2022/5.2
5.2 Theoretical framework
dr. mr. R.A. van ’t Foort-Diepeveen, datum 13-05-2022
- Datum
13-05-2022
- Auteur
dr. mr. R.A. van ’t Foort-Diepeveen
- JCDI
JCDI:ADS659175:1
- Vakgebied(en)
Ondernemingsrecht (V)
Ondernemingsrecht / Corporate governance
Voetnoten
Voetnoten
Meyerson & Kolb, Organization, 2000, 7(4).
Benschop & Verloo, in: The Routledge companion to philosophy in organization studies, 2016; van den Brink et al., Organization Studies, 2010, 31(11); Calás & Smircich, in: Studying Organization: Theory & Method, 1999; Calás & Smircich, in: The SAGE handbook of organization studies, 2006; Calás et al., Academy of Management Review, 2009, 34(3); Van ‘t Foort-Diepeveen et al., Gender in Management: An International Journal, 2021, 36(4); Gherardi, in: The Oxford handbook of organization theory, 2005; Lorber, The variety of feminisms and their contributions to gender equality, 1997.
Van den Brink et al., Organization Studies, 2010, 31(11); Calás & Smircich, in: Studying Organization: Theory & Method, 1999; Calás et al., Academy of Management Review, 2009, 34(3); Ely & Meyerson, Research in organizational behavior, 2000a, 22; Ely & Meyerson, Organization, 2000b, 7(4); Meyerson & Kolb, Organization, 2000, 7(4); Nentwich, Gender, Work & Organization, 2006, 13(6).
Van ‘t Foort-Diepeveen et al., Gender in Management: An International Journal, 2021, 36(4).
Benschop & Verloo, in: The Routledge companion to philosophy in organization studies, 2016; Lorber, The variety of feminisms and their contributions to gender equality, 1997; Meyerson & Kolb, Organization, 2000, 7(4); Nentwich, Gender, Work & Organization, 2006, 13(6); Nienaber & Moraka, Acta Commercii, 2016, 16(2).
Calás & Smircich, in: The SAGE handbook of organization studies, 2006; Gherardi, in: The Oxford handbook of organization theory, 2005.
Calás & Smircich, in: The SAGE handbook of organization studies, 2006.
Calás & Smircich, in: The SAGE handbook of organization studies, 2006.
Ely & Meyerson, Research in organizational behavior, 2000a, 22; Meyerson & Kolb, Organization, 2000, 7(4).
Ely & Meyerson, Research in organizational behavior, 2000a, 22; Meyerson & Kolb, Organization, 2000, 7(4); Nentwich, Gender, Work & Organization, 2006, 13(6).
Diepeveen et al., International and Comparative Corporate Law Journal, 2017, 12(2).
A liberal feminist lens was adopted to discuss the interventions.1 Liberal feminism advocates equal opportunities and rights for women and men without requiring a radical restructuring of society.2 In order to create equal opportunities, structural and procedural barriers discriminating women need to be removed.3 Previous research involving a systematic review of relevant literature revealed that several barriers hinder women in their access to the corporate top. These barriers include gender stereotypes, biases, devaluation of women, career preferences, organizational culture, work-family balance/conflict and professional support. The identified barriers are interrelated, meaning that they have a negatively reinforcing effect.4
The interventions required to achieve gender equality are affirmative action measures, anti-discrimination legislation and organizational interventions.5 In liberal feminism, organizations are seen as being gender-neutral and women and men are assumed to have equal opportunities therein.6 Organizations are not qualified as gendered.7 The problems women face are seen as individual problems.8 Therefore, interventions do not target the ‘un’gendering of organizations as such but rather focus on equipping women for top corporate positions and on granting women and men equal opportunities.9 Interventions in line with liberal feminism are, for instance, unbiased recruitment and promotion processes, mentoring programs, family friendly policies, such as flexible work arrangements, and development programs for women.10
In order to assess whether interventions have led to gender equality at the corporate top, the question needs to be answered when gender equality is achieved. Is that the case when boards are comprised of 30 percent women, or is gender parity of 50 percent women and 50 percent men required?11 For the purposes of this chapter, gender equality is considered to have been achieved when a 50-50 balance of men and women is attained at the corporate top.