"We Don’t Want Complaining Women!" A Critical Analysis of the Business Case for Diversity

Citation

Perriton L (2009) "We Don’t Want Complaining Women!" A Critical Analysis of the Business Case for Diversity. Management Communication Quarterly, 23 (2), pp. 218-243. https://doi.org/10.1177/0893318909343122

Abstract
The author explores how the corporate discourse of “the business case” works to frame, restrict, and depoliticize the discussion of gender in the workplace. In turn, bemused and surprised by the ease with which women have been persuaded it is not “businesslike” to complain, the author explores how women’s linguistic choices shape their corporate lives. By examining the didactic and embedded “gender work” of a women’s leadership event and reflecting on her own, occasional, weakness for the discourse, the author contributes to the understanding of how a seemingly positive and popular communication strategy reproduces unequal gendered relationships in the workplace. The author rejects the claim that using a business case discourse is an effective strategy in improving the recognition, promotion, and rewarding of women in organizations.

Keywords
feminism; equality; corporate discourse

Journal
Management Communication Quarterly: Volume 23, Issue 2

People

Professor Linda Perriton

Professor, Management, Work and Organisation