Gender, Power and Organisation Women in western society have entered the workplace in increasing numbers only since the 1950s, and this entry has been rapid. Gender, Power and Organisation is an examination of the psychological impact of the work setting on professional women, which has become a major site of gender politics over the last twenty years. This book, however, is not primarily about the political and social challenge of inequality of numbers, but about the psychological consequences of this gender imbalance for senior and middle ranking women in management and the professions. Paula Nicolson re-examines the ways that patriarchal structures resist women’s progress, and how male success has psychological implications for women’s sense of subjectivity, self-esteem and gender identity, and how achieving against such odds has an impact on women’s everyday lives. Gender, Power and Organisation is particularly concerned with women who have achieved or aspire to professional power, and the psychological dimension of power for women, men and the organisations in which they work. Paula Nicolson is Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Sheffield Medical School, and has co-edited a number of books including Gender Issues in Clinical Psychology, The Psychology of Women’s Health and Health Care (both with Jane Ussher) and Female Sexuality: Psychology, Biology and Social Context (with Precilla Choi). Gender, Power and Organisation A psychological perspective Paula Nicolson London and New York First published 1996 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an International Thomson Publishing company © 1996 Paula Nicolson All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Nicolson, Paula. Gender, power and organization: a psychological perspective/ Paula Nicolson. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Women in the professions—Psychological aspects. 2. Sex role in the work environment. 3. Professional socialization. I. Title. HD6054.N53 1996 155.6’ 33–dc20 95–51514 CIP ISBN 0-203-35987-9 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-37243-3 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-10402-5 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-10403-3 (pbk) To Kate Nicolson Contents Acknowledgements vi Introduction vii Part I Biography, biology and career Introduction to Part I 2 1 Gender, subjectivity and feminism 7 2 Gender, knowledge and career 30 3 Femininity, masculinity and organisation 49 Part II Professional socialisation and patriarchal culture Introduction to Part II 68 4 Gender at work 72 5 In the shadow of the glass ceiling 97 6 Sexuality, power and organisation113 Part 3 Challenging patriarchy: No Man’s Land? Introduction to Part III130 7 Barriers, boundaries and emotion: gender, power and 132 meaning 8 Conclusions146 References149 Index162 Acknowledgements Caroline Dryden persuaded me to submit the proposal for this book during a conversation in a crowded pub, and now the book is finished I would like to thank her. Sue Walsh eventually convinced me of the importance of psychoanalytic insights into the relationship of gender to power, and we have had some interesting arguments to that end. They and many others provided stimulation and support during the intervening years as I wrote and rewrote the manuscript. They include Jane Ussher and Jan Burns, other colleagues and friends in the Psychology of Women Section, the Universities of East London and Sheffield, the legal profession and the National Health Service. I would specifically like to mention Bipasha Ahmed, Kay Barnes, Dorothy Birks, Jill Brunt, Precilla Choi, Kathleen Cox, Kathy Doherty, Janet Kells, Sian Lewis, Kate McKenzie Davey, Glenys Parry, Anna Thomasson, Jill Tunaley, Sharon Wallach, Christopher Welsh and Anne Woollett. Thanks also goes to Viv Ward at Routledge for her support and patience. Finally, I wish to acknowledge the late Barrie Newman (who gave me invaluable insights into relevant aspects of sociology, although I am not so sure he would have really liked what I have made of it all); Derry Nicolson, who organised our entire house move whilst I finished this book; and Sue Thorpe and Richard Alderslade, who were there, both on e-mail and in person, while I was writing the last draft. Introduction At any given moment, gender will reflect the material interests of those who have power and those who do not. (Brittan, 1989:3) Organisational processes are central to the understanding of gender relations, and…organisations are gendered. (Witz and Savage, 1992:3) The power dynamics inherent in traditional conceptualisations of gender was theorised in the writings of those who noted that ‘difference’ was often equated with women’s subordination or inadequacy. (Radtke and Stam, 1994:5) Both gender relations and organisational dynamics are about the achievement and maintenance of power. The ability to influence and control human and material resources exists in a social and relational context where power and subordination are inseparable. This alliance occurs in professional organisations, and sexual, social and family relationships. It is almost always the case that women are in some way subordinate in these contexts (Leonard, 1984; Bleier, 1984). This project is an examination of the psychological impact of the work setting on professional women, currently entering organisations in increasing numbers. It is particularly concerned with women who have achieved or aspire to professional power, and expressly about the psychological dimension of power for women, men and the organisations in which they work. Work organisations have become a major site of gender politics for professional women and men over the last twenty years. While equal opportunities policies and affirmative action in the selection and training of women in the professions and management have had a qualified impact (Aitkenhead and Liff, 1990); increased career opportunities appear to have viii made the psychological context of the organisation more stressful for women (Davidson and Cooper, 1992; Marshall, 1984; McKenzie Davey, 1993). What makes this the case? While women and men have always co- existed in various capacities in extended families, their relationships in the workplace are relatively new. Women in western society have been entering the workplace in increasing numbers since the late 1950s, and this entry has been rapid. By 1975 46.2 per cent of women in OECD1 countries were working outside the home for a wage. This pattern is set to continue. In the UK it is predicted that 75 per cent of women will be working by 2001 (Commission of the European Communities, 1990, quoted in Davidson and Cooper, 1993). However this has not been, and is unlikely to be, on equal or gender-free terms. Female work is typically part-time and in low status occupations, such as clerical, secretarial, nursing, health care, teaching, child-care and social work, sales and manufacturing (OECD, 1979). These occupations have provided some opportunity for professional career progression, but men who enter these professions consistently rise to the top relatively quickly while women remain in the junior posts (Reskin and Padavic, 1994). There is also a persistent, close relationship between relatively low pay and ‘typically female’ occupations such as teaching and nursing (Pillinger, 1993). Although men have traditionally succeeded over women in terms of their pay, seniority and status of their profession, women are now entering the preservations of male power, such as politics, management, and professions such as medicine, law, academia and accountancy, but the picture is far from one of equality. In the medical profession, for example, while women have trained as doctors in increasing numbers since the 1970s, there is little change in their proportions at the top of the profession in either the UK or USA (Silver, 1990; Department of Health, 1991–2). Within the branches of the profession where status and remuneration are high (e.g. surgery) only 3 per cent of consultants are women; while in psychiatry, where the patient group and opportunities for lucrative private practice in the UK are low, around 25 per cent are female (Department of Health, 1991–2). Even so, most are men. Women academics are about seven times more likely to be temporary contract researchers than they are to be professors; and even then women only comprise around 35 per cent of contract researchers, 15 per cent of lecturers, 6 per cent of senior lecturers and 4 per cent of professors (AUT, 1990). In the USA 35–50 per cent of all new employees in public accounting are women (Lehman, 1990) but only around 2 per cent achieve the status of senior partner in prestigious companies (Maupin, 1993). ix The legal profession in the USA and UK demonstrates a similar pattern, with only 3.6 per cent of women in the UK being High Court judges (Holland and Spencer, 1992). In the USA only one half of 1 per cent of top people in the highest category of management are women (Fierman, 1990) and there are similar figures for female chief executives in the UK (Davidson and Cooper, 1992). This book, however, is not primarily about the identification and political and social challenge of inequality of numbers. This contest has been taken up effectively elsewhere (e.g.