Developing an intersectionality framework for exploring gender dynamics at management level within a state-owned organization in South Africa

Bowers, Tania

Developing an intersectionality framework for exploring gender dynamics at management level within a state-owned organization in South Africa

Thesis / Dissertation

2024

Abstract

Gender oppression and inequality has gained momentum among academics as an emerging feminist concern. However, there are not many literary works about black South African women who work for state-owned enterprises (SOE) and encounter bias. Black women still experience subtle racial and gender discrimination, even though women are susceptible to bias more frequently than men. These discriminatory actions give rise to the idea of intersectionality, which highlight social stratification along racial, gender, and ethnic lines. Therefore, this study investigates marginalisation of women and develops an intersectionality framework for exploring gender dynamics at management level within a state-owned organization in South Africa. Although all concepts of citizenship and employment are gendered, women cannot rely on liberal social policy and programs to reduce inequities (Coulter et al., 2014). Black women in South Africa were seen as "full citizens" when the country embraced democracy, but inequality persists since these women's lived experiences are only hazily acknowledged. Even though a workplace is merely a small part of a society within of a network of mutually reinforcing social and political interactions, the ongoing underrepresentation of black women in society is brought into question. To explore how political and organizational engagement interact, we draw on ideas of intersectionality, systems thinking, and leadership theory. While black women are credited with creating the concept of intersectionality is ascribed to African women, early writing on European, Asian, and American women focused on family-related issues and to a lesser extent on the effects of prejudice and pervasive socio-economic inequalities and their manifestation in the workplace. Studies on intersectionality are no longer exclusively coming from the United States, Europe, or Asia, but they still have a lot to do with South Africa. So, the study points to a contextual gap regarding the African perspective, particularly when considering the experiences of black women in management in post-apartheid South Africa. What are the mechanisms that obstruct the advancement of black women at a managerial level in Eskom? is a concern that must be acknowledged and handled in a setting with a complicated, compliance-focused legal framework. Constructivist grounded theory methods was used to research this subject. The study aim was to strengthen the validity of the study by utilizing the 20 black female employees who served as a representative sample of Eskom's business divisions and their subjective lived experiences. As a result, the study acknowledges the underrepresentation of black women in management positions, but it also conflates issues of threats to business sustainability and emphasizes the importance of leadership stature and protection against political influence as crucial to resolving the research problem. The study also emphasizes the necessity of understanding the systemic and reciprocal effects of human, organizational, and environmental concerns in order to overcome the research paradox (Miyen & April, 2022).

Keywords

Business

Reference:

Collections

PhD / Doctoral

Full item page