Constructing girlhood: abject labour in magazine offices

Upcoming publication in the Gender, Work and Organization journal by Hunter, C and Kivinen, K.: 'Constructing girlhood: abject labour in magazine offices'


Girls’ magazines act as important texts through which meanings of childhood, girlhood and
womanhood are mediated and constructed. However, previous research has focused on either
the conditions of work practices or cultural production of the magazine as a product. Separately
in each context women or girls have been described as abject. The paper will argue that employees
working on girls’ magazines experienced a simultaneous double abjection: in the gendered
working practices and as an outcome of the construction of girlhood they produced. Two
studies of all female teams producing teenage and pre-teen magazines were used, including interviews
and observations. Our approach engaged with the difficulty of examining abjectivity
in working practices, as present but marginalized, silenced and othered. As a result of scrutinizing
the gendered embodiment in these studies, the findings suggest there is a relation between
the working practices and gendered cultural production, forming a process of abjection. This process
was threefold: a marginalization of a particular gendered embodiment, the cracks or leaks
where abjectivity became apparent and the silencing of those leaks. This study will be of value
to scholars interested in gendered embodiment in workplaces, abjectivity and cultural production, noting the interrelation between these areas.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gwao.12141/epdf

Two New Books on Gender Issues in the Workplace

This book advocates for increased awareness of gender issues in organisations and proffer ways to overcome challenges encountered in this regard. One of its editors, Kathryn Haynes, contributed to the development of gender studies at the York Management School.  


Overcoming challenges to gender equality

This book explores the experiences of women in a traditionally male-dominated work environment, Construction and Transport industries.

  

Gender and Sexuality in Male-Dominated Professions

Is the Glass Ceiling in Academia Being Reinforced?

 Source: Philippidis (2012)

Recent discussions on the position of women in academia show that despite various legislation on equal opportunities in the workplace, things have barely changed from what was prevalent during the era of the catch phrase, 'housewives of higher education'. The discourse of feminism in higher education is dominated by allegations that academia is still trying to keep its women down through unequal wages and a female-dominated junior cadre.    

Academia and the silent war against women

The Game of Thrones / Politics: A point where fantasy meets reality

+Instagram

Leave it to the internet to draw similarities between the popular fantasy series that has gained cult following, 'Game of Thrones' and the growing visibility of women in politics. The bottom row of the picture above represents some of the powerful women who are coming to their own in the male-dominated fantasy world of Westeros and the Seven Kingdoms, compared with some powerful women (top row) in modern day politics.

The analysis of Ms Mandracchia, from theArtifice, on feminism and the role of the society as portrayed by this series is quite captivating and thought provoking.  

Game of Thrones and Feminisim

Are Men Parking the Bus? Sexism Remains a Barrier to Women's Advancement in the Football Industry

Recent research from the University of Liverpool.

Barriers to women in football

Gender in the Academy

This is a very useful contribution from the LSE.

Gender Bias in the Academy - an annotated bibliography

Sexism in the Kitchen

Helene Darroze, with restaurants in London and Paris, is the 2015 Veuve Cliquot Female Chef of the Year. She was also the model for the female chef Colette in the Pixar film Ratatouille in 2007, displaying, shall we say, a bit of attitude. This article argues, High-end kitchens have long been regarded as a male domain, with culinary students worshipping brutal but allegedly brilliant men, best exemplified by the “bad boy” chef Marco Pierre White and made popular by the character portrayed by Gordon Ramsay.Ramsay is, they argue, at least on TV, an equal opportunity abuser - he represents what society has decided is the ideal head chef: aggressive, abusive and above all male. But this does Ramsay a disservice - his range of TV offerings from Kitchen Nightmares to Hell's Kitchen frequently show him supporting female owners and chefs, and female winners of Hell's Kitchen have gone on to work for him  - indeed Ramsay was the first Michelin-starred restaurateur in Britain to appoint a female head chef. His approach is nevertheless somewhat robust, and it may well be difficult for many women to adapt to the culture of his kitchens. Raymond Blanc, whose style many think is more feminine, argues that women have "an allergy to becoming professional chefs.It is part of their DNA. As soon as they think of cooking, because they have had to do it for thousands of years – out of duty, rather than love – they hate the idea of having to do it professionally." adding that kitchens have always been male bastions which are inevitably "uncomfortable" for the fairer sex.Nigella Lawson, agrees, saying: "The professional kitchen's just not my bag."

Sexism in the Kitchen

Look carefully at the World's Top 50 Restaurant Awards 2015... there is a woman in there ....! Just the one.