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- Johansson, Maria
(författare)
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Business as Usual? : Doing gender equality in Swedish forestry work organisations
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The title of this thesis is Business as usual? Doing gender equality in Swedish forestry work organizations and while the latter part, the subtitle, is rather self-explanatory, the former part can be read in different ways. The aim of the thesis is to increase the understanding of the doing of gender equality in the male dominated work organizations of the Swedish forestry sector, and thereby contribute both theoretical and empirical understanding regarding how doing gender equality in the forestry sector relates both to notions of gender and notions of organizations. Forestry has traditionally been characterized by physically demanding, manual harvesting work, with practical and symbolic associations with men and certain forms of masculinity. The forestry sector still remains one of the most gender segregated labour forces in Sweden, all while gender equality has been addressed to some extent during the 2000s. The theoretical frame of reference of the present thesis is rooted in feminist organizational research and the doing gender framework. Based on a perspective of reality as socially constructed and by deploying a feminist participatory action research methodology, my analysis focuses on how complexities of meanings are ascribed to the actions and processes, that are framed as gender equality and I have qualitatively analysed empirical material, such as policy documents, interviews and written testimonies of sexual harassment, that explicate these aspects of doing gender equality in organizations. The thesis is built experiences from two different research- and development projects and consists of 5 articles and a synthetizing chapter.The results highlight how doing gender equality relates to notions of gender as well as notions of organization. In both Article I, where policies were studied and in Article II, that builds on interviews, women are in general constructed as the “other”, as people who lack (forestry) skills and competences and who are in need of help or as contributors of social and emotional competence. Men and masculine norms are mainly absent from the doing of gender equality in this material, just as notions of the organization. But, deploying a feminist participatory action research methodology can bring forward other perspectives on gender equality, as shown in Articles IV and V, such as the articulations of men and masculinities. Further, this thesis shows that gender equality is in general understood by the organizations studied as a process that regards gender, predominantly women, rather than the organization. Put differently, gender equality work in the forestry sector does not to any significant extent, affect what is perceived as the core activities in these organizations. However, the overarching depoliticized and degendered business case framing that mainly evades accounting for the role of the organization when doing gender equality, is disrupted by the testimonies of #slutavverkat explored in Article III. Here, the political dimension of gender equality is highlighted by stories of men’s behaviours (reprehended but at the same time sanctioned) in organizations that come at the expense of women’s rights to a workplace free from condescending comments, harassment and sexual violence. While previous research has pointed to the importance of gender awareness, and gender aware leadership, in organizations that wish to succeed with their gender equality work, this thesis suggests that there is also a need for “gendered organization awareness” in order to understand and discuss not only how gender is done in organizations but also how everyday organizational life, such as notions of competence, is done and how that in turn relates to gender and power. This underlines the need for organizations to make room for conflicts and politics and to let the otherwise marginalized voices contribute to more nuanced interpretations of gender equality.The title Business as usual? encompasses the starting points for the thesis work as well as the main findings. Read with an emphasis on business, the seemingly all-embracing business case rhetoric’s that encloses the official narratives of gender equality in the forestry sector are visualized, while emphasizing as usual denotes to the sectors resistance to do other than what it usually does. Read as the hole saying, business as usual, that title signals that gender equality work is done in ways that not interfere with forestry core activities, thus making gender equality work in the organizations side streamed or de-coupled. Yet, read with emphasis on the question mark, opens up for the subversive potential that nevertheless exists when more multifaceted ways of making sense of gender equality are articulated and as the findings suggests that there are ways to re-gender and re-politicize organizational gender equality work in the context of forestry work organizations.
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| 5. |
- Johansson, Kristina, et al.
(författare)
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The Discursive Resistance of Men to Gender-equality Interventions : Negotiating “Unjustness”and “Unnecessity”in Swedish Forestry
- 2019
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Ingår i: Men and Masculinities. - : Sage Publications. - 1097-184X .- 1552-6828. ; 22:2, s. 177-196
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article adds to the understanding of men’s discursive resistance in relation to gender-equality interventions at work. Using Swedish men forestry professionals as the empirical base, the result shows how discursive resistance were performative acts, part of the construction of the same gender-equality interventions and organizational contexts that they were perceived to describe. In this case, direct opposition to gender equality provided a limited discursive position and sets of logics available in practice. Instead, the possibilities to renegotiate gender-equality interventions as unjust and unnecessary required, we conclude that the industry’s ambition to hire and promote more women was perceived to have led to the use of affirmative action and the disruption of meritocratic principles and that the problems of gender equality were placed in the traditional forestry and among “prejudiced old men,” as oppose to the more “modern” and “women friendly” forestry of today.
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| 6. |
- Johansson, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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#Metoo in the Swedish forest sector : testimonies from harassed women on sexualised forms of male control
- 2018
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0282-7581 .- 1651-1891. ; 33:5, s. 419-425
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study adds to the literature on the gendered culture of the forest sector by examining testimonies of sexual harassment in relation to the gendering of forestry-related competence and organisations and the consequences that the sexualisation of social relations in organisations has, mainly for women. The empirical base of the study comprised testimonies within the campaign #slutavverkat published on Instagram to highlight experiences of sexual harassment of women in the Swedish forest sector. Qualitative content analysis of the testimonies suggested that the situations described in the testimonies in #slutavverkat comprise controlling actions that diminish women's power in the forest sector. Sexualised forms of male control and harassment thus work to remind women that they are first and foremost a representation of women, rather than of forestry professions and knowledge. In that sense, sexualised forms of male control and harassment are part of, rather than deviating from, the overall gendering of forestry as a men-dominated sphere. The study adds to organisational understandings and policy developments on discrimination and harassment and suggests that researchers and policy-makers interested in reducing inequality in forestry need to pay more attention to issues of harassment and sexualisation of social relations.
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| 7. |
- Lindberg, Malin, Professor, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Design teams : A participatory path to socially transformative innovation?
- 2019
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Ingår i: Forskning og Forandring. - : Cappelen Damm AS. - 2535-5279. ; 2:1, s. 25-38
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study investigates how a design team with researchers and participants from different parts and levels of an organisation may function as a participatory method for socially transformative innovation. The experiences gained by a design team in one of Sweden’s major forestry companies are examined through a participatory, single case study approach, in which researchers and employees jointly developed new insights and ideas. The results reveal that the design team functioned well in terms of channelling the participants’ expertise and experiences into innovative ideas, but less well as regards aligning the latter with the company’s regular management procedures, thus reducing the function of the design team to an abstract symbol of organisational ‘modernity’, rather than an effective instrument for social transformation.
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| 8. |
- Andersson, Elias, et al.
(författare)
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Constituting gender and gender equality through policy : the political of gender mainstreaming in the Swedish forest industry
- 2018
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Ingår i: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 2040-7149 .- 2040-7157. ; 37:8, s. 763-779
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeIn Sweden, gender mainstreaming policies have a long political history. As part of the national gender equality strategy of the Swedish forest industry, the ten largest forestry companies committed themselves to gender mainstream their policies. Limiting the impact of policies and the agency of change, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the varied and conflicting meanings and constitution of the concepts, the problem and, in extent, the organisational realities of gender mainstreaming.Design/methodology/approachIn both, implementation and practice, gender mainstreaming posse challenges on various levels and by analysing these documents as practical texts from the WPR-approach. This paper explores constructions of gender and gender equality and their implications on the practice and the political of gender mainstreaming in a male-dominated primary industry.FindingsThe results show that the organisations themselves were not constituted as the subject of the policy but instead some of the individuals (women). The subject position of women represented in company policy was one of lacking skills and competences and in the need of help. Not only men and the masculine norms but organisational processes and structures were also generally invisible in the material. Power and conflict were mainly absent from the understanding of gender equality. Instead, consenting ideas of gender equality were the focus. Such conceptualisations of gender equality are beneficial for all risk concealing power structures and thereby limit the political space for change.Originality/valueBy highlighting the scale of policy and the significance of organisational contexts, the results indicate how gender and gender equality are constitutive through the governing technologies of neoliberal and market-oriented ideologies in policy – emphasising the further limiting of space for structural change and politicalization within the male-dominated organisations of Swedish forest industry.
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| 9. |
- Johansson, Kristina, et al.
(författare)
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All talk and no action? Making change and negotiating gender equality in Swedish forestry
- 2023
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Ingår i: Forest Policy and Economics. - : Elsevier. - 1389-9341 .- 1872-7050. ; 154
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study analyses how women professionals make sense of change with regard to gender (in)equality in the Swedish forestry sector. While most participants described an increased focus on gender equality in the sector, perceptions of change varied. Descriptions emphasising progress observe change in the sense that an increased focus on gender equality has meant that explicit sexism is no longer tolerated. Descriptions emphasising stability, however, consider that this focus has not allowed for a transformation of the sectors embedded in masculine structures and cultures. The study thus points to a discrepancy between what organisations ‘do’ and what they ‘say they do’, which sheds light on the various forms of power, conflict and resistance involved in the constitutions of gender equality. To truly promote gender equality in the Swedish forestry sector, researchers and policy-makers must continue to make visible, address and challenge the complex practices and processes involved in organisational transformation.
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| 10. |
- Johansson, Kristina, et al.
(författare)
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Conditioned openings and restraints : The meaning‐making of women professionals breaking into the male‐dominated sector of forestry
- 2020
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Ingår i: Gender, Work and Organization. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0968-6673 .- 1468-0432. ; 27:6, s. 927-943
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article addresses how women forestry professionals articulate and interpret their experiences of being a woman and a professional in the male‐dominated context of forestry. The findings suggest that the entrance of women into forestry has created openings as well as restraints within the dominant discourses of forestry organizations. Gendered constructions of skills and a workplace culture described as built on homosocial values cause women to feel questioned and disadvantaged. At the same time, women are valued for their perceived capacity to perform relational‐based aspects of forestry work and as a means to reduce gender segregation. We conclude that while these openings are conditioned by discourses of gender differences and masculine privileges, they provide women, to some extent, with subjectivity and organizational space that, with time, may challenge the dominant and gendered discourses of forestry organizations.
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