IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v11y2022i2p82-d751791.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender Dynamics in a Masculine Professional Context: The Case of the Portuguese Air Force

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Helena Santos

    (Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Iscte-IUL), CIS-IUL, 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal)

  • Patrícia Morais

    (Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Iscte-IUL), CIS-IUL, 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal)

  • Rita B. Correia

    (Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa (ICS-IUL), 1600-189 Lisboa, Portugal)

Abstract

This article aims to understand the experiences of women working in the Portuguese Air Force, a traditionally male professional environment, and the perspectives of their male counterparts on the subject, considering women’s minority status and symbolic gender asymmetries in the military. This study draws on 16 semi-structured interviews with Air Force personnel, evenly split by gender. Findings reveal four main themes that convey awareness that the Air Force is still a masculine world, perceptions of gender dynamics in the Air Force, barriers to equality, and strategies to address the situation. Although gender equality is formally in place in the Air Force, women continue to face obstacles that hinder their career advancement and ensure that their professional experiences differ from those of their male counterparts.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Helena Santos & Patrícia Morais & Rita B. Correia, 2022. "Gender Dynamics in a Masculine Professional Context: The Case of the Portuguese Air Force," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-16, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:11:y:2022:i:2:p:82-:d:751791
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/2/82/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/2/82/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:11:y:2022:i:2:p:82-:d:751791. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.