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Change agents or defending the status quo? How senior leaders frame workplace gender equality

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  • Natasha Cortis
  • Meraiah Foley
  • Sue Williamson

Abstract

Senior leaders are usually understood to be ideally positioned to drive the organizational changes needed to promote workplace gender equality. Yet seniority also influences leaders' values and attitudes, and how they interpret evidence of inequalities, determine organizational priorities, and design and implement remedies. This article examines leaders' perceptions of workplace gender equality using system justification theory to explain survey data from Australia's public sector (n = 2292). Multivariate analysis indicates that male and female leaders more positively rate the gender equality climate in their agencies, compared with lower‐level staff, and that male leaders show most propensity to defend the status quo. Findings call into question the effectiveness of change strategies that rely on leadership and buy‐in of those whose privilege is embedded in existing arrangements, and problematize dominant organizational approaches casting senior leaders as effective change agents for gender equality. The article helps to explain gendered power dynamics, which produce and sustain organizational inequalities and make workplace equality so hard to achieve, and points to ways to strengthen practical approaches to promote equality in organizations.

Suggested Citation

  • Natasha Cortis & Meraiah Foley & Sue Williamson, 2022. "Change agents or defending the status quo? How senior leaders frame workplace gender equality," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 205-221, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:29:y:2022:i:1:p:205-221
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12742
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Elisabeth Kelan, 2009. "Gender as an Ideological Dilemma," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Performing Gender at Work, chapter 6, pages 145-181, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Lansu, M. & Bleijenbergh, I. & Benschop, Y., 2020. "Just talking? Middle managers negotiating problem ownership in gender equality interventions," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(2).
    3. Jill Rubery, 2013. "Public sector adjustment and the threat to gender equality," Chapters, in: Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead (ed.), Public Sector Shock, chapter 2, pages 43-83, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Eddy Ng & Greg Sears, 2012. "CEO Leadership Styles and the Implementation of Organizational Diversity Practices: Moderating Effects of Social Values and Age," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 105(1), pages 41-52, January.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Micaela Stierncreutz & Janne Tienari, 2023. "Shaped by resistance: Discursive politics in gender equality work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1178-1198, July.

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