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Developing an intersectionality framework for exploring gender dynamics at management level within a state-owned organization in South Africa
Gender oppression and inequality has gained momentum among academics as an emerging feminist concern. However, there are not many literary works about black South African women who work for state-owned enterprises (SOE) and encounter bias. Black women still experience subtle racial and gender discri...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | Eng |
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Graduate School of Business (GSB)
2024
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| _version_ | 1867613264579395584 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Bowers, Tania |
| author2 | Shelley, Elanca |
| author_browse | Bowers, Tania Shelley, Elanca |
| author_facet | Shelley, Elanca Bowers, Tania |
| author_sort | Bowers, Tania |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Gender oppression and inequality has gained momentum among academics as an emerging feminist concern. However, there are not many literary works about black South African women who work for state-owned enterprises (SOE) and encounter bias. Black women still experience subtle racial and gender discrimination, even though women are susceptible to bias more frequently than men. These discriminatory actions give rise to the idea of intersectionality, which highlight social stratification along racial, gender, and ethnic lines. Therefore, this study investigates marginalisation of women and develops an intersectionality framework for exploring gender dynamics at management level within a state-owned organization in South Africa. Although all concepts of citizenship and employment are gendered, women cannot rely on liberal social policy and programs to reduce inequities (Coulter et al., 2014). Black women in South Africa were seen as "full citizens" when the country embraced democracy, but inequality persists since these women's lived experiences are only hazily acknowledged. Even though a workplace is merely a small part of a society within of a network of mutually reinforcing social and political interactions, the ongoing underrepresentation of black women in society is brought into question. To explore how political and organizational engagement interact, we draw on ideas of intersectionality, systems thinking, and leadership theory. While black women are credited with creating the concept of intersectionality is ascribed to African women, early writing on European, Asian, and American women focused on family-related issues and to a lesser extent on the effects of prejudice and pervasive socio-economic inequalities and their manifestation in the workplace. Studies on intersectionality are no longer exclusively coming from the United States, Europe, or Asia, but they still have a lot to do with South Africa. So, the study points to a contextual gap regarding the African perspective, particularly when considering the experiences of black women in management in post-apartheid South Africa. What are the mechanisms that obstruct the advancement of black women at a managerial level in Eskom? is a concern that must be acknowledged and handled in a setting with a complicated, compliance-focused legal framework. Constructivist grounded theory methods was used to research this subject. The study aim was to strengthen the validity of the study by utilizing the 20 black female employees who served as a representative sample of Eskom's business divisions and their subjective lived experiences. As a result, the study acknowledges the underrepresentation of black women in management positions, but it also conflates issues of threats to business sustainability and emphasizes the importance of leadership stature and protection against political influence as crucial to resolving the research problem. The study also emphasizes the necessity of understanding the systemic and reciprocal effects of human, organizational, and environmental concerns in order to overcome the research paradox (Miyen & April, 2022). |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40354 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | Eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:23.204Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publishDateRange | 2024 |
| publishDateSort | 2024 |
| publisher | Graduate School of Business (GSB) |
| publisherStr | Graduate School of Business (GSB) |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40354 Developing an intersectionality framework for exploring gender dynamics at management level within a state-owned organization in South Africa Bowers, Tania Shelley, Elanca Business Gender oppression and inequality has gained momentum among academics as an emerging feminist concern. However, there are not many literary works about black South African women who work for state-owned enterprises (SOE) and encounter bias. Black women still experience subtle racial and gender discrimination, even though women are susceptible to bias more frequently than men. These discriminatory actions give rise to the idea of intersectionality, which highlight social stratification along racial, gender, and ethnic lines. Therefore, this study investigates marginalisation of women and develops an intersectionality framework for exploring gender dynamics at management level within a state-owned organization in South Africa. Although all concepts of citizenship and employment are gendered, women cannot rely on liberal social policy and programs to reduce inequities (Coulter et al., 2014). Black women in South Africa were seen as "full citizens" when the country embraced democracy, but inequality persists since these women's lived experiences are only hazily acknowledged. Even though a workplace is merely a small part of a society within of a network of mutually reinforcing social and political interactions, the ongoing underrepresentation of black women in society is brought into question. To explore how political and organizational engagement interact, we draw on ideas of intersectionality, systems thinking, and leadership theory. While black women are credited with creating the concept of intersectionality is ascribed to African women, early writing on European, Asian, and American women focused on family-related issues and to a lesser extent on the effects of prejudice and pervasive socio-economic inequalities and their manifestation in the workplace. Studies on intersectionality are no longer exclusively coming from the United States, Europe, or Asia, but they still have a lot to do with South Africa. So, the study points to a contextual gap regarding the African perspective, particularly when considering the experiences of black women in management in post-apartheid South Africa. What are the mechanisms that obstruct the advancement of black women at a managerial level in Eskom? is a concern that must be acknowledged and handled in a setting with a complicated, compliance-focused legal framework. Constructivist grounded theory methods was used to research this subject. The study aim was to strengthen the validity of the study by utilizing the 20 black female employees who served as a representative sample of Eskom's business divisions and their subjective lived experiences. As a result, the study acknowledges the underrepresentation of black women in management positions, but it also conflates issues of threats to business sustainability and emphasizes the importance of leadership stature and protection against political influence as crucial to resolving the research problem. The study also emphasizes the necessity of understanding the systemic and reciprocal effects of human, organizational, and environmental concerns in order to overcome the research paradox (Miyen & April, 2022). 2024-07-04T14:11:33Z 2024-07-04T14:11:33Z 2024 2024-07-02T14:00:09Z Thesis / Dissertation Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40354 Eng application/pdf Graduate School of Business (GSB) Faculty of Commerce |
| spellingShingle | Business Bowers, Tania Developing an intersectionality framework for exploring gender dynamics at management level within a state-owned organization in South Africa |
| thesis_degree_str | Doctoral |
| title | Developing an intersectionality framework for exploring gender dynamics at management level within a state-owned organization in South Africa |
| title_full | Developing an intersectionality framework for exploring gender dynamics at management level within a state-owned organization in South Africa |
| title_fullStr | Developing an intersectionality framework for exploring gender dynamics at management level within a state-owned organization in South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Developing an intersectionality framework for exploring gender dynamics at management level within a state-owned organization in South Africa |
| title_short | Developing an intersectionality framework for exploring gender dynamics at management level within a state-owned organization in South Africa |
| title_sort | developing an intersectionality framework for exploring gender dynamics at management level within a state owned organization in south africa |
| topic | Business |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40354 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bowerstania developinganintersectionalityframeworkforexploringgenderdynamicsatmanagementlevelwithinastateownedorganizationinsouthafrica |