TY - JOUR
T1 - Disrupting the Gender Institution
T2 - Consciousness-Raising in the Cocoa Value Chain
AU - McCarthy, Lauren
AU - Moon, Jeremy
PY - 2018/9
Y1 - 2018/9
N2 - Gender is one of the most taken-for-granted institutions. Inequality is a common by-product of this institution and questions arise as to how such inequalities can be addressed. We uncover the cognitive and emotional processes individuals experience that enable them to begin disrupting the gender institution, within our case context of a gender equality programme in the Ghanaian cocoa value chain. We identify four elements of institutional apprehension: theorizing, auditing, relating to others and exploring difference. These processes help individuals ‘see’ the dimensions of the gender institution: its order’s laws and rules, its organizational gender regimes, and its gendered practices in daily interactions. Furthermore, some individuals are able to appreciate the dynamic interplay between these dimensions, and the power relations that are inherent within them. We argue that this fifth element of institutional apprehension, consciousness-raising, is particularly important for achieving equality. Consciousness-raising involves connecting everyday practices with organizational and structural rules, thus making ‘the personal political’. It enables individuals to reconsider the way that power plays out in relational ways within value chains, promoting variously fatalism, resistance and the possibility of more multidimensional solutions to gender inequality.
AB - Gender is one of the most taken-for-granted institutions. Inequality is a common by-product of this institution and questions arise as to how such inequalities can be addressed. We uncover the cognitive and emotional processes individuals experience that enable them to begin disrupting the gender institution, within our case context of a gender equality programme in the Ghanaian cocoa value chain. We identify four elements of institutional apprehension: theorizing, auditing, relating to others and exploring difference. These processes help individuals ‘see’ the dimensions of the gender institution: its order’s laws and rules, its organizational gender regimes, and its gendered practices in daily interactions. Furthermore, some individuals are able to appreciate the dynamic interplay between these dimensions, and the power relations that are inherent within them. We argue that this fifth element of institutional apprehension, consciousness-raising, is particularly important for achieving equality. Consciousness-raising involves connecting everyday practices with organizational and structural rules, thus making ‘the personal political’. It enables individuals to reconsider the way that power plays out in relational ways within value chains, promoting variously fatalism, resistance and the possibility of more multidimensional solutions to gender inequality.
KW - Consciousness-Raising
KW - Gender Inequality
KW - Gender Institution
KW - Global Value Chains
KW - Institutional Work
KW - Consciousness-raising
KW - Gender Inequality
KW - Gender institution
KW - Global value chains
KW - Institutional work
UR - https://sfx-45cbs.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/45cbs?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_ctx_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info:sid/sfxit.com:azlist&sfx.ignore_date_threshold=1&rft.object_id=954921376726&rft.object_portfolio_id=&svc.holdings=yes&svc.fulltext=yes
U2 - 10.1177/0170840618787358
DO - 10.1177/0170840618787358
M3 - Journal article
VL - 39
SP - 1153
EP - 1177
JO - Organization Studies
JF - Organization Studies
SN - 0170-8406
IS - 9
ER -