Rendering sexism invisible in workplace narratives. A narrative analysis of female entrepreneurs’ stories of not being talked to by men

Jones, K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5154-4583 and Clifton, J. (2018) Rendering sexism invisible in workplace narratives. A narrative analysis of female entrepreneurs’ stories of not being talked to by men. Gender, Work & Organization, 25 (5). pp. 557-574. ISSN 1468-0432 doi: 10.1111/gwao.12216

Abstract/Summary

Taking a social constructionist and narrative approach to identity, in the analyses of a corpus of stories concerning sexism in the entrepreneurial world, we use positioning theory to provide a fine-grained analysis of the (gendered) identity work that female entrepreneurs perform to answer three research questions: 1) how female entrepreneurs themselves construct their (gendered) identities 2) how this differs from, or resembles, academic constructs of sexism and 3) what this identity work ‘means’ in terms of larger societal Discourses or ideologies that are invoked. Findings suggest that paradoxically these stories construct gender identities in which the female entrepreneurs are positioned as inferior to, and different from, their male interlocutors. However, the interviewees themselves fail to evaluate their stories as sexism-in-action. Consequently, they enforce and (re)create the often noted masculine and sexist nature of the entrepreneurial world.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-pure-test.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/67087
Identification Number/DOI	10.1111/gwao.12216
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > Institute of Education Central Services
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