The Face of the Firm : Corporate Hegemonic Masculinity at Work

Despite decades of greater awareness of gender at work in Western countries, gender inequality in the executive suites is alive and well. The Face of the Firm highlights new critical perspectives on the relationship between hegemonic masculine cultures, gender embodiment and gender disparities in corporate organizations. Using multiple methodologies including over 100 interviews, mainly with British female and male executives in the UK who worked for some of the most prestigious American and British multinational advertising agencies and computer companies, the book makes important connections between the empirical data and contemporary sexism in the UK and US. The book refocuses the debate of executive work, organizational spaces and gender inequality on gendered bodies at work. It also demonstrates that gendered and sexualized relations among executives often construct the production process. The book makes a contribution to masculinity, gender and work scholarship and is organized along three key concepts: homogeneity, homosociability and heterosexuality. These address such factors as the organizational "locker room," sexual and heterosexual spaces at work and the construction of women and men as different workers. This conceptual model is crucial for evaluating the mechanisms that support male dominance among highly skilled professionals and executives.