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A (Post)Feminist Kaleidoscope: A Study Interrogating Gender in Swedish Management Education

Blomqvist, Amanda LU and Tinglöf, Sofia LU (2015) BUSN49 20151
Department of Business Administration
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to critically interrogate gender in Swedish management education, with the objective of making it more gender equal. Following a multi-paradigmatic approach, shifting between interpretative and critical feminist knowledge interests, we developed a qualitative study simultaneously working with theory and empirical material. We got to our findings by analyzing business case studies, and by conducting two focus groups with ten students and seven single interviews with teachers. We found that management education remains gendered in several ways, but students and teachers are reluctant to recognize that as a problem for themselves. Rather, students make sense of gender using discourses of individualism and... (More)
The purpose of this study was to critically interrogate gender in Swedish management education, with the objective of making it more gender equal. Following a multi-paradigmatic approach, shifting between interpretative and critical feminist knowledge interests, we developed a qualitative study simultaneously working with theory and empirical material. We got to our findings by analyzing business case studies, and by conducting two focus groups with ten students and seven single interviews with teachers. We found that management education remains gendered in several ways, but students and teachers are reluctant to recognize that as a problem for themselves. Rather, students make sense of gender using discourses of individualism and voluntarism, and teachers express an ’ontological flexibility’ where gender is important in theory, but not as relevant in practice. Further, we found dis agreement among participants as to whether management education has a role to play in working towards gender equality. Our findings support scholars arguing that management education is gendered, and contributes to the underdeveloped field studying postfeminism in educational settings. We further contribute ’triangular insights’ to how postfeminist discourses obstruct gender equality in management education. (Less)
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author
Blomqvist, Amanda LU and Tinglöf, Sofia LU
supervisor
organization
course
BUSN49 20151
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Management Education, Sweden, Gender, Gender Equality, Postfeminism, Feminism, Individualism, Voluntarism, Ontological Flexibility
language
English
id
7472384
date added to LUP
2015-09-11 14:07:05
date last changed
2015-09-11 14:07:05
@misc{7472384,
  abstract     = {{The purpose of this study was to critically interrogate gender in Swedish management education, with the objective of making it more gender equal. Following a multi-paradigmatic approach, shifting between interpretative and critical feminist knowledge interests, we developed a qualitative study simultaneously working with theory and empirical material. We got to our findings by analyzing business case studies, and by conducting two focus groups with ten students and seven single interviews with teachers. We found that management education remains gendered in several ways, but students and teachers are reluctant to recognize that as a problem for themselves. Rather, students make sense of gender using discourses of individualism and voluntarism, and teachers express an ’ontological flexibility’ where gender is important in theory, but not as relevant in practice. Further, we found dis agreement among participants as to whether management education has a role to play in working towards gender equality. Our findings support scholars arguing that management education is gendered, and contributes to the underdeveloped field studying postfeminism in educational settings. We further contribute ’triangular insights’ to how postfeminist discourses obstruct gender equality in management education.}},
  author       = {{Blomqvist, Amanda and Tinglöf, Sofia}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{A (Post)Feminist Kaleidoscope: A Study Interrogating Gender in Swedish Management Education}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}