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Competition and gender: Time’s up on essentialist knowledge production

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Competition and gender: Time’s up on essentialist knowledge production. / Mavin, Sharon; Yusupova, Marina.
In: Management Learning, Vol. 52, No. 1, 15.02.2021, p. 86-108.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

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Mavin S, Yusupova M. Competition and gender: Time’s up on essentialist knowledge production. Management Learning. 2021 Feb 15;52(1):86-108. Epub 2020 Sept 15. doi: 10.1177/1350507620950176

Author

Mavin, Sharon ; Yusupova, Marina. / Competition and gender : Time’s up on essentialist knowledge production. In: Management Learning. 2021 ; Vol. 52, No. 1. pp. 86-108.

Bibtex

@article{91fa31f93a2e4438a727e2a3e4723875,
title = "Competition and gender: Time{\textquoteright}s up on essentialist knowledge production",
abstract = "This article is an intervention in current trends of thinking about competition and gender in essentialist and stereotypical ways. Such thinking has produced numerous comparative studies measuring competitiveness of women and men; {\textquoteleft}proving{\textquoteright} men as competitive and women as non-competitive. Based on experiments and written questionnaires, these studies reduce gender to perceived biological sex and treat competition as a {\textquoteleft}self-evident{\textquoteright}, static and easily measurable phenomenon. To contribute new understandings and learning, we surface five fallacies of this comparative research, explaining why the approach is misleading, inequitable and socially harmful. Drawing upon gender as a social construction and women leaders{\textquoteright} narratives, we offer a blueprint for democratising knowledge production. We write differently, choosing not to provide a {\textquoteleft}balanced{\textquoteright} view of the field and construct competition as a processual, complex and contextually specific phenomenon with underlying gender dynamics, rather than a discrete, observable and fixed in time event. The article provides learning: for leaders and managers to resist automatic categorisation on the basis of perceived biological sex; for management educators to challenge the ways that leadership and management are traditionally taught; and, for executive coaches to support changes in practice, by embracing complexity of the contemporary contexts in which leaders operate.",
keywords = "Comparative studies, competition, gender, narrative inquiry, women leaders, women and men",
author = "Sharon Mavin and Marina Yusupova",
year = "2021",
month = feb,
day = "15",
doi = "10.1177/1350507620950176",
language = "English",
volume = "52",
pages = "86--108",
journal = "Management Learning",
issn = "1350-5076",
publisher = "SAGE Publications Ltd",
number = "1",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Competition and gender

T2 - Time’s up on essentialist knowledge production

AU - Mavin, Sharon

AU - Yusupova, Marina

PY - 2021/2/15

Y1 - 2021/2/15

N2 - This article is an intervention in current trends of thinking about competition and gender in essentialist and stereotypical ways. Such thinking has produced numerous comparative studies measuring competitiveness of women and men; ‘proving’ men as competitive and women as non-competitive. Based on experiments and written questionnaires, these studies reduce gender to perceived biological sex and treat competition as a ‘self-evident’, static and easily measurable phenomenon. To contribute new understandings and learning, we surface five fallacies of this comparative research, explaining why the approach is misleading, inequitable and socially harmful. Drawing upon gender as a social construction and women leaders’ narratives, we offer a blueprint for democratising knowledge production. We write differently, choosing not to provide a ‘balanced’ view of the field and construct competition as a processual, complex and contextually specific phenomenon with underlying gender dynamics, rather than a discrete, observable and fixed in time event. The article provides learning: for leaders and managers to resist automatic categorisation on the basis of perceived biological sex; for management educators to challenge the ways that leadership and management are traditionally taught; and, for executive coaches to support changes in practice, by embracing complexity of the contemporary contexts in which leaders operate.

AB - This article is an intervention in current trends of thinking about competition and gender in essentialist and stereotypical ways. Such thinking has produced numerous comparative studies measuring competitiveness of women and men; ‘proving’ men as competitive and women as non-competitive. Based on experiments and written questionnaires, these studies reduce gender to perceived biological sex and treat competition as a ‘self-evident’, static and easily measurable phenomenon. To contribute new understandings and learning, we surface five fallacies of this comparative research, explaining why the approach is misleading, inequitable and socially harmful. Drawing upon gender as a social construction and women leaders’ narratives, we offer a blueprint for democratising knowledge production. We write differently, choosing not to provide a ‘balanced’ view of the field and construct competition as a processual, complex and contextually specific phenomenon with underlying gender dynamics, rather than a discrete, observable and fixed in time event. The article provides learning: for leaders and managers to resist automatic categorisation on the basis of perceived biological sex; for management educators to challenge the ways that leadership and management are traditionally taught; and, for executive coaches to support changes in practice, by embracing complexity of the contemporary contexts in which leaders operate.

KW - Comparative studies

KW - competition

KW - gender

KW - narrative inquiry

KW - women leaders

KW - women and men

U2 - 10.1177/1350507620950176

DO - 10.1177/1350507620950176

M3 - Journal article

VL - 52

SP - 86

EP - 108

JO - Management Learning

JF - Management Learning

SN - 1350-5076

IS - 1

ER -