This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 1097184X07306747v1 10/4/405    most recent References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Google Scholar Articles by Elias, J. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Hegemonic Masculinities, the Multinational Corporation, and the Developmental State

Constructing Gender in "Progressive" Firms

University of Adelaide

This article analyzes how the mainstream study of multinational corporations (MNCs) reflects a set of gendered assumptions that construct the firm as a hegemonically masculine political actor. It is suggested that the same masculinist assumptions that are found in these writings on MNCs take shape within firms in the form of a masculinist managerialism that constructs women workers in terms of their "productive femininity." There is an extensive literature on women's employment in MNCs and their subsidiaries; the author suggests that this focus on women workers is only a starting point for developing a gendered understanding of global production. Importantly, a focus on "feminine" work and the role that masculinist managerial practices play in underpinning this construction provides insight into the gendered structures and institutions that support the workings of the global political economy.

Key Words: factory work • multinational corporation • globalization • masculinities • gendered employment practices

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?