Chapter 2: Feminist Organization Studies: A Love Story

A hundred years after women won the fight for the right to vote (1919 in the Netherlands), we have come a long way in changing gendered power relations in organizations and society. Yet, contrary to popular, postfeminist beliefs (see below), gender inequality is not a thing from the past and continues to manifest itself in today’s organizations in many different ways. The field of gender in organizations, or feminist organization studies, as I like to identify my intellectual and scholarly home, is the place where knowledge is developed about how gender, in intersection with race, class, and other forms of social inequality, shapes and is shaped by organizations and processes of organizing. I draw on feminist organization studies to identify and analyze these inequalities in organizations with their underlying power processes; to articulate the goal for change towards gender equality, diversity, and inclusion; and to design, implement, and evaluate inventions to realize that goal. In this chapter, I describe my experiences in becoming a feminist organization studies scholar, a process of becoming that is ongoing and continues to shape my research and teaching. For me, this is an engaged scholarship with the explicit feminist agenda of changing gendered power relations and intersectional gender inequalities in organizations and in society at large. Based on my experiences, I provide some advice to early career scholars, and end with an agenda of the hot topics for future research.