Experiences of Women Elite Leaders Doing Gender: Intra‐gender Micro‐violence between Women

Date01 July 2014
AuthorSharon Mavin,Gina Grandy,Jannine Williams
Published date01 July 2014
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12057
Experiences of Women Elite Leaders
Doing Gender: Intra-gender Micro-violence
between Women
Sharon Mavin, Gina Grandy1and Jannine Williams2
Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, City Campus East, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 2SW,
UK, 1Faculty of Business Administration, University of Regina, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina,
Saskatchewan, Canada S4S 0A2, and 2Bradford University School of Management, University of Bradford,
Emm Lane, Bradford BD9 4JL, UK
Corresponding author email: sharon.mavin@northumbria.ac.uk
This paper responds to the dearth of research into women’s negative intra-gender rela-
tions and lack of understanding as to why and how these relations manifest. Through a
qualitative study of women elite leaders’ experiences in UK organizations, the research
considers how gendered contexts, women doing gender well and differently simultane-
ously, intra-gender competition and female misogyny may explain negative intra-gender
social relations between women. We consider micro-aggression research and women’s
abjection and offer a unique conceptualization of intra-gender micro-violence with
themes of disassociating, suppression of opportunity and abject appearance. The themes
illustrate how the masculine symbolic order shapes and constrains women elite leaders’
social relations with other women. We conclude that raising consciousness to intra-
gender micro-violence between women is important as a means of disruption; to facilitate
women and men’s acceptance of intra-gender differences between women; and to open up
opportunities and possibilities for women in organizations.
Introduction
Women elite leaders are argued to have broken
through the glass ceiling and achieved a ‘mascu-
line strategic situation’ (M. Tyler, 2005, p. 569);
however, their under-representation continues
and there remains a lack of research into their
experiences (Terjesen, Sealy and Singh, 2009).
The societal context and saliency for research into
women elite leaders is evident in the lack of
women at the pinnacle of UK organizational hier-
archies. In the FTSE 100 women hold 18 director-
ships versus 292 men and the FTSE 250 has 32
women in directorships versus 558 men (Sealy and
Vinnicombe, 2013). The Sex and Power (2013)
report Who Runs Britain? notes that in a popula-
tion of 51% women, women hold only 36.4% of
public appointments. This lack of women in elite
positions is now subject to governmental reports,
quota debates and policy interventions (e.g.
Davies, 2011).
Further, relationships between women in
organizations are complex, contradictory and
under-researched; they take place within gendered
contexts and can constrain and undermine
women’s progress. Here we set out to provide an
explanation for women’s negative intra-gender
relations; to better understand women elite
leaders’ experiences of negative intra-gender
relations through a lens of gender micro-
aggression; and to raise consciousness to possibili-
ties for women within organizational gendered
contexts.
We would like to thank Professor Monika Kostera,
Associate Editor, and the anonymous reviewers for their
constructive and supportive feedback, which enabled us
to further develop the paper.
bs_bs_banner
British Journal of Management, Vol. 25, 439–455 (2014)
DOI: 10.1111/1467-8551.12057
© 2014 British Academy of Management. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4
2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA, 02148, USA.
Through a qualitative study of 81 women elite
leaders in UK organizations our contribution is
three-fold. First, we offer a unique conceptualiza-
tion of intra-gender micro-violence and themes of
disassociating,suppression of opportunity and
abject appearance, to support understandings of
women’s negative intra-gender social relations. In
conceptualizing intra-gender micro-violence
between women as psychosocial and non-physical,
we build upon Kelan and Mah’s (2014) research
into women’s social psychological admiration of
other women and Fotaki’s (2011) use of psychoso-
cial violence to describe the way women’s bodies
are silenced. Second, we advance the concept of
female misogyny (Mavin, 2006, 2008) as part of the
gendered contexts within which women leaders
operate. In doing so, we extend the work of
Doldor, Anderson and Vinnicombe (2013) who
argue that studies of gender cannot be separated
from context. Third, we offer an empirical contri-
bution. Following Ellemers et al. (2012) and
Chesterman, Ross-Smith and Peters (2005), we
explore experiences of women in ‘high places’ who
have overcome gendered barriers to achieve elite
leader positions, and therefore address Terjesen,
Sealy and Singh’s (2009) call for ‘truly innovative
research into the female directors’ experiences’ (p.
332) lacking in the literature. We also progress
Kelan and Mah’s (2014) call for broader research
engaging those in senior positions and offer further
insight into how gendered power impresses upon
frames of understanding and impacts upon
women’s advancement (Broadbridge and
Simpson, 2011).
We begin by outlining the gendered contexts in
which women leaders are marked by their ‘doing
gender well and differently’ (Mavin and Grandy,
2012, 2013), intra-gender competition and female
misogyny ideology (Mavin, 2006), before intro-
ducing interpersonal mistreatment literature and
exploring research into gender micro-aggression.
We then present our research approach and find-
ings, offering a conceptualization of intra-gender
micro-violence and supporting themes. We con-
clude with our suggestions for future research.
Women elite leaders doing gender well
and differently in gendered contexts
In a foundational text, Kanter (1977) outlined a
theory of tokenism which claimed that group size
is connected to social experiences and, when the
size of the group changes, so do the experiences of
the individuals and the group. Rather than a focus
on the changing numbers of women in elite leader
positions, our specific interest is to explore women
elite leaders’ (a minority) experiences of social
relations with other women. We understand ‘elite
leader’ to include women who hold significant
positions of power and influence at the top of
organizations (e.g. CEO, COO, CFO, MD, Head
of HR, Director/Non-Executive Director, Chair/
Vice Chair, Company Secretary, Head/Teacher of
School, General Manager). Our focus is on
women’s experiences of intra-gender relations
while achieving and holding these positions,
rather than the skills, attributes and activities of
leaders and managers.
The gendered nature of organizational life
serves both to exclude women from the male inner
circles of power and influence and to obscure
from them and other outsiders the complex details
of how these work (Ledwith and Colgan, 1996, p.
12). Progress has been made in that (a few)
women now hold elite positions within these inner
circles of power; however, it is well established
that these positions are ‘masculinized’ and con-
structed around male norms. As such, women
elite leaders find themselves in a context marked
by masculine rationality with control at its centre:
an extreme version of competitive masculinity
(Chesterman, Ross-Smith and Peters, 2005)
which influences experiences (Ross-Smith and
Chesterman, 2009). There has been much interest
in understanding how these gendered contexts
shape women’s organizational experiences
(Connell, 1987; Gherardi, 1994; Marshall, 1984).
Work itself is gendering whereby social processes
of gender construction and familiarities of gender
differences, learned by men and women at an
early age, continue into working lives (Cockburn,
1985). Our interest is at the top of organizational
hierarchies, where we argue that relationships
between women and the gendered nature of their
social contexts are ‘a fundamental element in
organizing leadership learning’ (Stead and Elliott,
2013, p. 375).
At the interpersonal level patriarchy is a com-
plementary social process between men and
women. Smith (1987) notes that women are
somehow complicit in patriarchy through the
social practices of their silence, while Cockburn
(1991, p. 8) argues that within this context ‘a
440 S. Mavin, G. Grandy and J. Williams
© 2014 British Academy of Management.

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