Management Research Seminar Series

***M.Sc. Students in Management, this event can count towards one of the six mandatory Research Seminars Series needed to attend (MGT6991).***

Leah Sheppard, PhD.

Associate Professor, Department of Management, Information Systems, and Entrepreneurship, Washington State University

 In the current work, we argue that scholars have put forth imbalanced perspectives on the adaptive and maladaptive features of masculinity and femininity. This has resulted in the characterization of masculinity as largely maladaptive, and in the maladaptive features of femininity being under-theorized. We review existing constructs (e.g., hegemonic masculinity, precarious manhood theory) that point to a restricted definition of masculinity as producing men's subjugation of women and non-conforming men in organizations. We then theorize about gendered narratives that likewise create a restricted definition of femininity, and discuss the capacity for this to elicit women's subjugation of non-conforming women and some men, particularly men of color, in organizations. Finally, we reintegrate the gender dualism by considering how the adaptive features of masculinity and femininity might be harnessed to temper the maladaptive within organizations.