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

Linda Perriton

doi:10.1177/0893318909343122

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

Linda Perriton

The York Management School

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	218-243
Number of pages	26
Journal	MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION QUARTERLY
Volume	23
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0893318909343122
Publication status	Published - Nov 2009

Keywords

feminism
equality
corporate discourse
DISCOURSES
EQUALITY

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http://mcq.sagepub.com/content/23/2/218

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

Abstract

Keywords

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