Gender, Emotion and Power in Work Relationships☆
Human Resource Management Review 21 (2011) 377–393 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Human Resource Management Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/humres Gender, emotion and power in work relationships☆ Belle Rose Ragins a,⁎, Doan E. Winkel b,1 a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business, Milwaukee, WI 53201, United States b Illinois State University, College of Business, Normal, IL 61790, United States article info abstract Keywords: We offer a theoretical account of how gender and emotion combine to influence the Gender in the workplace development of power in work relationships. We document the profound impact gender has on Gender and emotion at work the display, perception and evaluation of emotion in the workplace. We illustrate the reciprocal Gender and discrimination at work relationship between emotion and power, and identify cycles of powerlessness that prevent Gender and power at work women from developing and leveraging power in their work relationships. By exploring the nexus of gender, emotion and power in work relationships, we offer new insights into how the gendering of emotion creates and perpetuates gender differences in power in organizations. Implications for research and practice are offered. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Inc. “If you get too emotional, that undercuts you. A man can cry; we know that. Lots of our leaders have cried. But a woman, it's a different kind of dynamic.” Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (Dowd, 2008) Despite women's increasing workforce participation, the gender gap in power in organizations has not changed appreciably over the past twenty years (Catalyst, 2010; Eagly & Carli, 2007a; Ryan & Haslam, 2007).
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