The Naturalization of Gender Segregation in a Danish Bank

Authors

  • Sidsel Lond Grosen Centre for Working Environment and Working Life, Roskilde University
  • Helle Holt SFI. The Danish National Centre for Social research
  • Henrik L. Lund Roskilde University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19154/njwls.v2i1.2352

Keywords:

Gender, ethnicity, age & diversity, Organization & management

Abstract

Through a qualitative interview analysis of a document handling department in a Danish bank, this article seeks to illuminate central aspects of how some jobs come to be seen as naturally female. Taking gendered organizational theory and Joan Acker’s concept of an ideal employee as our point of departure, we ask whether women are seen as the ideal employees in this femaledominated job function or as a residual to men as the actual ideal employees. The numerical female dominance in the document handling department is articulated as a matter of competencies, job content, and family obligations – for example, by framing women as good at multitasking, as enjoying routine work, and as primary caregivers. The article argues that this construction both draws on and alters historically formed stereotypes in ways that reinforce the gender segregation of the organization and make it hard to change.

Author Biographies

Sidsel Lond Grosen, Centre for Working Environment and Working Life, Roskilde University

Assistant Professor. email: sgrosen@ruc.dk

Helle Holt, SFI. The Danish National Centre for Social research

Senior Researcher

Henrik L. Lund, Roskilde University

Associate Professor, Centre for Working Environment and Working Life

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Published

2012-02-24

How to Cite

Grosen, S. L., Holt, H., & Lund, H. L. (2012). The Naturalization of Gender Segregation in a Danish Bank. Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies, 2(1), pp. 61–79. https://doi.org/10.19154/njwls.v2i1.2352

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Section

Articles