Is fatherhood allowed? : Media discourses of fatherhood in organizational life
It has been claimed that in the context of organizations and management, fathers are invisible. One source of tension for fathers who work and who want to participate in family life is that even though involved fatherhood is emerging in many western societies, a family-oriented male identity is likely to be problematic for men in organizations. This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of a professional and managerial men's work-family relationship using discourse analysis on data from three different media sources in Finland, published during 1990-2015. We identified two competing discourses: one of stasis, the other of change. The stasis discourse is constructed around tra…
Women's Appearance as the Focus of Attention in Organizations
This teaching case focuses on appearance and gender discrimination in the workplace. Previous studies show, for example, that appearance, women’s especially, can be an invisible mechanism of discrimination and interpreted as a justification for sexual and gender-based harassment. Prior research also indicates that women suffer from gendered ageism, also related to looks. However, issues about appearance are seldom analysed from the perspectives of organizational (mal)practices and women’s career barriers and problems. This teaching case presents the case of Anna. The case is meant for management and organization students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Anna is a well-educated youn…
Fathers in focus: two discursive analyses on addressing men, work and care
We introduce in this chapter discourse analysis as a methodological tool for studying work-family issues, particularly those of men and fathers in work and care. Work and family involve complex processes and dynamics, where reconciling different interpretations of events are temporally and contextually changing. Current discourses on involved fatherhood raise many questions about men's work and family relationships and the role of care in their life. Here we present two empirical examples using discourse analysis to study work-family issues from a male gender perspective in the Finnish context. Finally, we discuss the (dis)advantages of using discursive analytical perspectives in work-famil…
Care and gendered work in reception centers in Finland
PurposeThis paper focuses on how gendered processes of working life are (re)constructed and are also challenged discursively in paid and volunteer care and work in reception centers. The purpose of this paper is to show how caring work with asylum seekers can both enhance the traditional gender order and challenge it through enabling men to have opportunities to care.Design/methodology/approachThe data were produced through qualitative interviews among paid workers and volunteers in reception centers, and analyzed through a discourse analysis approach.FindingsThree discourses of care and work were identified: a discourse on solidarity and care; a discourse on control and order; and a discou…
Paradoxes of Mentoring: An Ethnographic Study of a Mentoring Programme for Highly-educated Women with Migrant Backgrounds
This article explores paradoxes that emerge in the mentoring of highly-educated, female, foreign-born job-seekers in Finland. Theoretically, the study is linked to the growing body of research scrutinising the integration or discrimination of migrants in working life. It analyses cultural practices and ideas that are visible and affect the mentoring interaction. On a more practical level, the paper determines how the mentors and mentees experience the mentoring, and how intercultural mentoring could be improved in order to promote mentees’ employment. The article is based on ethnography and 11 semi-structured interviews. Two major paradoxes and their links to cultural meanings were identifi…