What is Feminism at Work?
At its most basic, what does it mean to use feminism in the workplace and to be feminist as a workplace? Here are some notes from 6 June 2015.
What is Feminism at Work?
Feminism at work is not the same as adding more “women in business”.
Feminism at work is not the same as welcoming or including “feminine” traits into the ways that we think about leadership or good management.
Feminism at work is the ongoing process of leading together to change the systems in our workplaces,
- by developing and using feminist business practices and behaviors by transforming conventional business practices so that they reflect feminist values (e.g., using different kinds of decision-making tools in our everyday work, applying different norms to our evaluations of effective or good behavior) and,
- using the analytic tools, frameworks, vocabulary, and history of intersectional feminism as a body of thought and as a guide for practice.
Feminism at work is aimed at changing the system of work, not just advancing one woman’s place (or your place) in that system.
Feminism at work is aimed at improving the experience of work, the experience of employment, and the social value of work, not just for your kind of women or men, but for everyone.
Feminism at work means envisioning a different kind of organization — a different kind of work structure — and a different kind of business activity, as well as a different kind of economics.
This would mean going beyond simply adding women, or diversity, or increasing the range of people representing different social cultures within a work culture. It will require inviting democratic engagement and active collective leadership in transforming the business.
Feminism at work, for an individual, means working as an allied agent of change, not as a lone “change agent” or as an angry “advocate”, or even as a traditional “leader”.
Feminism at work means leads to reorganizing power, authority, and responsibility. It includes changing the way we think about who earns what, who contributes what, how different kinds and amounts of contribution are valued, and how that contribution is related to ownership of the business itself
Feminism at work emphasizes equality, mutuality, relationships, interdependence, and justice.
Feminism at work means always using the term “women” in the most complex, inclusive, and intersectional way. It means to use an analysis of gendered power dynamics as a fundamental but not the only lever for change.
