So, for example, in much Western political thought and wider societal stereotypes, the public sphere is seen as masculine and the private sphere as feminine; culture is associated with the masculine and nature with the feminine; authority and leadership with masculinity and deference and subordination with femininity Hooper , Sjoberg Gender provides an important means by which particular, often unequal, arrangements come to be seen as naturalized or institutionalized.
The departmental court What do we mean by the departmental court? British government departments are headed by an elected politician known as the Secretary of State or Minister. He or she is assisted by junior ministers, referred to here as Ministers of State, who are elected but appointed to their ministerial post by the Prime Minister.
The top official in the department is known as the Permanent Secretary. Private Offices support both Ministers and permanent secretaries. Civil servants staff both offices. A principal private secretary PPS , who will be a young civil servant expecting rapid promotion, heads each office. The Private Office controls the diary, prepares and collates the papers, and ensures that the Minister turns up at meetings on time and fully prepared. Taken together, these officials comprise a small elite group who work closely with the elected politicians.
Rhodes argues that this team should be seen as the departmental executive. So, one department had eight ministers and about 80 people supporting them. Gendered bureaucracy The feminist analysis of bureaucracy stresses that rather than being neutral, the defining characteristics of bureaucracy have gendered foundations and consequences. These characteristics are hierarchical organization, the division of labour, and technical rationality Ferguson ; Yeatman ; Stivers Femininity is associated with emotional and relational activities.
As Ramsay and Parker observe, while both embody rationality, task oriented rationality is valued more than relational in bureaucratic hierarchies. So, bureaucracies embed gendered values and rewards, most notably the symbolic association of men and masculinity with the practices of control and authority, and the devaluing of the beliefs and practices culturally and historically associated with femininity, for example, empathy and cooperation. Masculinity is associated historically with specific beliefs and practices and this inherited dominant managerial style shapes the beliefs and practices of both men and women.
Bureaucracies are historically gendered in ways which tend to privilege men and specific sorts of masculinity but that need not imply that bureaucracies are inherently gendered, always gendered in the same way or always produce similar gendered consequences such as differential access and reward Britton ; Stivers Hegemonic masculinity constrains and restricts men as well as women but, in general, these underlying beliefs and practices with their implicit performance standards carry a greater cost and cause greater disadvantage to women Connell ; Stivers How do bureaucratic rules, practices and beliefs reflect and reproduce unequal gender relations?
What are the gendered consequences of everyday practices in the departmental courts at the top of British government, for example do they disadvantage women? Their demands on the person are omnivorous. Franzway , developed the concept to highlight the problems greedy institutions pose for women at work, particularly given the unequal division of caring labour that still predominates in most societies.
This notion assumes there are others taking care of care including care of the hero ; and devalues care work and relationships; it is predicated on and reinforces a breadwinner-homemaker model.
We examine the way these features play out in the everyday practices of the departmental court. We ask how things are done around here? We seek to tease out the gendered consequences and costs of these practices.
It is worth emphasising that a unique feature of this study is its focus on the governmental elite, the apex, not the front line. He examined the beliefs and everyday practices of elected ministers and their top officials or permanent secretaries to understand the form and extent of changing models of leadership and governance see also Bevir and Rhodes , , He examined the protocols, rituals and practices through which the status quo was preserved, dilemmas managed, and coping strategies deployed to survive the frenetic daily life at the apex of government; dynamic conservatism in the service of willed ordinariness.
In doing so, he identified the resilience of the traditional Whitehall model of government despite encroachments from the competing narratives and practices of managerialism and network governance. We reanalysed the reported data, the original transcribed interviews TIs and the fieldwork note books FWNB by applying a gender lens. This analysis reveals new understandings of the traditions and practices of actors in departmental courts. It is characterized by deep immersion in social worlds so we can understand day-to-day practices, and how these practices become meaningful.
So, it lends itself to reanalysis wearing a different set of spectacles. However, there are challenges when trying to uncover beliefs and practices, and their gendered consequences; there are gaps and silences.
The relative lack of senior women as civil servants and ministers, and their uneven distribution, pose practical problems. The interviews and fieldwork observations were for citation but not for attribution; preserving anonymity makes it difficult to undertake systematic comparison and fine-grained analysis of, for example, male and female career trajectories or interdepartmental differences. A further issue for ethnographic approaches — which are principally about understanding the daily world of actors on their own terms — is that the daily practices of gender and the beliefs underpinning such practices are often unthinking rather than purposive.
Actors may not see the gendered consequences of daily practices because of the taken-for-granted quality of gender relations and bureaucratic beliefs and practices Martin , Stivers Of course, much will depend on the skills of the observer, and ethnographic fieldwork, like any other research method in the social sciences, has its strengths and weaknesses.
It is different in both the aims and knowledge criteria employed. Neither method is any better than the research question it seeks to answer. Ethnographic methods are well suited to answering questions about the embedded everyday beliefs and practices of the departmental court. Rhodes et al chapter 9 discuss the pros and cons of observation as a research tool for studying government elites at some length. On practice, he observed the office of two ministers and three permanent secretaries for two days each, totalling some hours.
He also shadowed two ministers and three permanent secretaries for five working days each, totalling some hours. On talk, he had repeat interviews with: ten permanent secretaries 2 x 2-hour taped and transcribed , five secretaries of state and three ministers 1 x 2-hour taped and transcribed ; and twenty other officials 1 x 1-hour taped and transcribed , totalling some 67 hours of interviews. All interview quotes are from a taped and transcribed interview TI and identified by the position held by the individual — Minister, Permanent Secretary, and so on.
For the quotes from Ministers there are eight possible sources, and for permanent secretaries there are ten. In every other case, there will be at least three possible sources for the quote. The 35 interviewees included three female elected ministers two secretaries of state and a minister of state , three female senior civil servants Permanent Secretary, deputy secretary and PPS and eleven other female officials. Most quotes are from women. The interviews took place in The fieldwork was carried out in There were several repeat interviews and occasional visits in The analysis also draws on several insider accounts of the period now available see for example, Michael Barber , Alastair Campbell , and David Blunkett Throughout, whether drawing on fieldwork or other primary sources, we stress the views of insiders because we are trying to describe their world through their eyes.
The aim is to highlight the ways in which, and with what consequences, gender is constructed, shaped, and maintained through beliefs and practices of the departmental court. Hierarchy and the monarchical tradition It is a central tenet of feminist scholarship that masculinity is strongly associated with hierarchical authority structures in many organizations Martin This association is particularly strong in political organizations and bureaucracies Lovenduski , Savage and Witz It is argued that gender is practiced in political institutions where men hold most of the most powerful positions and most women are subordinate to men in the formal authority structure, mirroring wider societal patterns of unequal gender relations Sjoberg The departmental court constitutes gender as white, male and middle class and, therefore, as we argue below, imposes significant constraints on female civil servants and ministers seeking to act on an equal footing in their daily work.
Government departments embed culturally hegemonic masculine beliefs and practices, which privilege hierarchical relationships of domination and subordination, which in turn map onto cultural associations of masculinity and femininity respectively Stivers , Savage and Witz The hierarchy of bureaucracy is further reinforced by the monarchical tradition, which persists as a central characteristic of the Westminster model and ministerial practice in British government.
Ministers are the public face of government. They represent its authority. The Minister is called Minister or Secretary of State and rarely addressed by his or her first name by officials. Outsiders display equivalent verbal and physical deference. He or she is the centre of attention and this simple fact is displayed in language, beliefs and practices. Most ministers dress to reinforce the appearance of rule. As a celebrity, the minister is escorted everywhere in a chauffeur driven car, greeted at doorways and on red carpets by respectful hosts.
Hierarchy pervades every aspect of everyday life. Senior ministers wait for no one on the phone other than the Prime Minister. The departmental courts, like the rest of the civil service, are highly stratified and hierarchical, with clear lines of reporting and command. Loyalty is viewed as non-negotiable. In seeking to understand the ways in which hierarchy has gendered consequences, we turn our attention to three aspects of bureaucracy: bureaucratic politics; civility, rationality and managing emotions; and gendered patterns of work Bureaucratic politics Explicit discussions of gender and ideas about appropriate gender relations were not part of the original fieldwork.
Despite that we see evidence that the culture of the departmental court is imbued with competitive masculinity both in the language and practices of bureaucratic politics, and their underlying beliefs.
The hierarchical silos of government departments foster competition. Turf warfare is never far away. I want you to pass that message on. Thus, the body language expressed self-confidence, aggression and control. Many both men and women spoke with a polite voice and a harsh body.
Competitiveness is illustrated by such displays of controlled aggression, the use of military metaphors to describe encounters with other departments, and the turf wars of bureaucratic politics.
Such practices are strongly associated with dominant forms of bureaucratic and political masculinities Stivers ; Lovenduski Confrontation is equated with masculinity and therefore strength.
Cooperation or consensus is equated with femininity and is, therefore, weaker Duerst-Lahti and Kelly Thus, the practices of bureaucratic politics are constrained by these embedded gendered beliefs and practices about what constitutes authoritative action Franzway et al ; Sjoberg Civility, Rationality and Managing Emotion Life in a departmental court is frenetic, unpredictable, stressful and tense. Rhodes discovered that a key daily task of the departmental court is to cope.
Coping is not a dramatic activity. It is surprisingly ordinary. Everyone smiled. The style of the permanent secretaries was low key. Everyday emotions such as anger, fear, disappointment, aggression, and conflict are also managed through understatement, detachment and the ritualized practices of politeness.
Civility is an important but unremarked ritualized means of coping — and a mechanism of ruling. Norms of civility mask hierarchies of power and privilege elite insiders. Norms of civility are also gendered in that they are an expression of masculine bureaucratic rationality, in which emotion of self and others is controlled, and detachment is prized.
These are preeminent traits of bureaucratic masculinity, practiced by both high status men and women. Conversely, expressions of emotion are culturally associated with femininity and viewed as weak and suspect Stivers ; Young Politeness governs most workplace encounters.
The most common way of dealing with anger is to become cold. The following scene would be typical of the departments. Anger is managed by politeness; by detachment, not swearing. An effective way of unearthing such language codes is to explore events where they are breached. In the civil service the code of civility or politeness is breached by anger and by swearing.
Consider the following scene. At an internal budget meeting, a DG lost his temper. His section was suffering the largest budget cuts. He wanted a strategic review of base spending and his colleagues did not. He is excited, short of breath and he raises his voice. His body language is stiff, angular. Huanghu marked it as to-read Jun 10, Stuart Elliott marked it as to-read Mar 08, Liliana Chaparro added it Feb 27, Moo Lynn marked it as to-read Apr 09, Offr added it May 10, Cguthrie00 marked it as to-read Jul 04, Amber marked it as to-read Nov 27, Slawomir Nowotny marked it as to-read Mar 14, Nick Backas marked it as to-read May 02, MangoMadness marked it as to-read Sep 09, Nina Nicole added it Jan 29, Venhamon marked it as to-read Feb 11, Travis Williams marked it as to-read Jul 15, WthWds added it Oct 09, Dani Stigliano marked it as to-read Aug 18, Emilio Gonzalez marked it as to-read Jul 10, Ana added it Aug 28, There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one ». Readers also enjoyed. About Lewis A. In an environment where membership is declining and the old verities of traditional unionism Gaps in union commitment cease to hold sway, the whole movement is demoralized Beilharz ; Western The discussion so far suggests that the issue In commitments to the trade union movement.
I believe the … we hold meetings and their level of additional difficulty for feminists who come attendance is poor. Seeing good members, difference among women within the context good workers, being screwed by their of patriarchal gender relations. Women union employers and the restraints of the system officials who are committed to representing are very frustrating. Such criticism assumes that the I began by observing the extremely heavy real impetus for worker struggles lies with workloads demanded by trade union activ- workers and underplays the value and the ism.
However, trade union work also pro- significance of the commitment of union vides women with many of the advantages activists. Those who are most allows for the exercise and development of a committed are most in danger of becoming wide range of skills, the possibility of acting distanced and alienated from those whom on political principles and a relative degree they aim to serve. The reason lies not only of autonomy. Typically, such work has no in the extent to which their experience as limits; there is always more that could be union activists differs from workers, in organ- done with the result that full-time union izing and negotiating with the employers, officials have highly demanding jobs with and among themselves, but also because their very long hours.
The women officials in selves Webb and Webb ; Mills ; the study here are no different, working a Jackson ; Offe ; Watson ; Berry range from 45 hours to 58 hours, with half and Kitchener The task for the union working over 60 hours a week.
One week it could material reality of increasing work hours be 35 to 38 hours and the next week it could for full-time workers is well documented.
This creates particular difficulties Relations Research and Training Conflicts with employers, Understood largely in terms of a discourse with other unions, with the peak councils, which grants considerable value to work even within the union itself may demand a overload, such increases in workload have rapid and time-consuming response, at any been central to Australian campaigns to time.
This, in turn, stress campaign mode or not, and high stress undermines the development of alternative campaign mode seems to come surprisingly work practices and discourses. Heavy workloads are a long-term feature In this regard, union work is not dissimilar of union work Clegg et al.
The work can expand to fill all the time available, a characteristic … a workaholic, eighteen-hour-a-day which it shares with housework. In union the kind of flexible work arrangements they work, men portray the job as one which advocate at the bargaining table. Needleman , p. It was just additional implication of an aggressive per- terrifying. I thought the minute I stopped I formance of machismo.
The women officials was just going to be enveloped by this are clearly critical, but they also stress their ghastly job … So I just bush bashed and own capacity to work hard.
I felt increasingly isolation. I was knackered, just plain Neither the union nor the family allows knackered. Marie women a flexibility appropriate to their needs. Neither of these greedy institutions Workload rapidly became overload. Her energy strikes at the potential involvement of and enthusiasm were thoroughly depleted women generally, both as union activists and by the greedy institution of the union. She as officials. Some attempts have been made has now withdrawn from all union activism.
White, for example, but the possibilities of implementing any notes the high turnover among women in changes depend on more than the limited union positions. Whether this is different powers of women officials. In effect, there women officials is paid in clear, gendered is still room for commitment to only one terms.
Where Marie devoted herself exclus- greedy institution at a time. The outcome has Emotional labour been less physically devastating, but did undermine her union position. The meanings of work election to national office, located in Sydney, time and service are shaped by relations of negotiated conditions which allowed her gender. It seemed a the workplace. What are the vention by any remaining opposition.
Since union service? She argues that the work on their requirements of everyday union politics. Women tend to predominate in occu- how much further I want to go before I go pations which require the former Hochschild out. The emotional costs are Beasley , p. From throwing themselves into a emotions than care are also brought into play wholehearted but unrestrained care, they in union work.
The capacity to lead the report shifts into a more discriminating, organization forcefully and engage in ag- perhaps instrumental, or utilitarian exercise gressive negotiations with employers, with of care. The difference is that and not do things for them.
However, union work, hard, assertive personal style. At the same therefore may be understood in political time, those women who took up such prac- terms. This is further com- ing dominant male practices.
A memorable image doing. Kay hallway at midnight attempting to comfort a The gendered expectation that Kay express a distraught member, a frequent event.
In a womanly, motherly care is exacerbated by a later interview she talked about how she had particular organizational dynamic. OK about themselves. However, as Kay very driven to save other people. But I assume the care of the responsible mother. Denise trade unionism. Their prac- than of helping. Their commitment to union- tices do not remain static. Union workload is ism includes as fundamental the principle of located within the changing discourses about egalitarian activism.
They are very aware increasing workload in Australia, in addition of the obstacles in the path of participatory to being shaped by the heroic culture of trade democracy, including their own personal union work. The women officials are chal- fears or lack of confidence, which they work lenging the feminine dimensions of emotional to overcome. They show an acute awareness labour in the public domain of unionism as of the possibility that others are likely to be they move towards a more complex emotional similarly hampered.
This is in addition to the labour that aims active empowerment for pacifying effects of oppression by employers union members rather than a receptive sup- and the ways union organization may limit port. The women officials greedy institution continues, but does not go regard tackling any and all of these obstacles unchanged. Where women work and engage as constituting forms of taking care and of in the trade union movement, new political service to members.
Notes 1. The values of trade unionism are the subject of considerable debate in the industrial relations Conclusion literature Hyman ; Offe ; Williams The trade union movement is a greedy 2. It incorporates 3. Labourism in Australia has come to refer to an ideals and possibilities as well as contradictory orientation in which unions restrict their activ- dilemmas and problems.
As union women ity to improvements in wages and conditions for workers within the existing capitalist order.
0コメント