Mechanisms of gender stratification in the organizational structures of technology startups
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26485/PS/2022/71.3/9Keywords:
gendered organizations, gendered stratification, technology startups, startups, innovative professional organizationsAbstract
Many different metaphors that illustrate the mechanisms of gender stratification in the workplace have been distinguished in research dealing with the issues of relationships between gender and organizational structures. However, these descriptions were constructed on the basis of research on hierarchical and bureaucratic organizational structures. Meanwhile, organizations focused on producing innovations, emerging on the basis of the neoliberal model of the economy, are undergoing significant changes. New models of the organization of work (based on flat structures, self-managed teams, or the use of ICT) create space for reconfiguring the gender inequality relationship in the workplace. The aim of the article is to characterize the mechanisms of gender stratification in innovative professional organizations – technology startups. Based on the results of qualitative research, the text indicates the limitations and possible reinterpretations of the metaphors (often present in the sociological literature on the subject) used to describe patterns of gender inequalities in startups (the metaphor of “glass cellar”, “glass walls” and “horizontal segregation”).
References
Abouzahr Katie, Frances B. Taplett, Matt Krentz, John Harthorne. 2018. Why women-owned startups are a better bet. Boston: Boston Consulting Group.
Acker Joan. 2006. “Inequality regimes: Gender, class, and race in organizations”. Gender & Society 20(4): 441–464. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243206289499.
Acker Joan. 2012. “Gendered organizations and intersectionality: Problems and possibilities”. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal 31(3): 214–224. https://doi.org/10.1108/02610151211209072.
Aernoudt Rudy, Amparo de San José. 2020. “A gender financing gap: Fake news or evidence?”. Venture Capital 22(2): 127–134. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691066.2020.1747692.
Alegria Sharla. 2019. “Escalator or step stool? Gendered labor and token processes in tech work”. Gender & Society 33(5): 722–745. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243219835737.
Alfrey Lauren, France W. Twine. 2017. “Gender-fluid geek girls: Negotiating inequality regimes in the tech industry”. Gender & Society 31(1): 28–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243216680590.
Alleyne Brian. 2019. Geek and hacker stories: Code, culture and storytelling from the technosphere. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Balachandra Lakshmi, Tony Briggs, Kim Eddleston, Candida Brush. 2019. “Don’t pitch like a girl!: How gender stereotypes influence investor decisions”. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 43(1): 116–137. https://doi.org/10.1177/1042258717728028.
Bates Trudy. 2022. “Rethinking how we work with Acker’s theory of gendered organizations”. Gender, Work & Organization 29(4): 1041–1064. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12795.
Bidwell Matthew, Forrest Briscoe. 2010. “The dynamics of interorganizational careers”. Organization Science 21(5): 1034–1053. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1090.0492.
Bourdieu Pierre. 2004. Męska dominacja. Warszawa: Oficyna Naukowa.
Bower Joseph L., Clayton M. Christensen. 1995. “Disruptive technologies: Catching the wave”. Harvard Business Review 73(1): 43–53.
Bridges Tristan, Cheri J. Pascoe. 2014. “Hybrid masculinities: New directions in the sociology of men and masculinities”. Sociology Compass 8(3): 246–258. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12134.
Bruni Attila, Silvia Gherardi, Barbara Poggio. 2004. “Doing gender, doing entrepreneurship: An ethnographic account of intertwined practices”. Gender, Work & Organization 11(4): 406–429. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2004.00240.x.
Budrowska Bogusława. 2004. „«Szklany sufit», czyli co blokuje kariery kobiet”. Kultura i Historia 6: 5–19.
cee report. 2021. Funding in the CEE region through the lens of gender diversity and positive impact. http://www.lvca.lv/en/news/funding-in-the-cee-region-through-the-lens-of-genderdiversity-and-positive-impact [access: 18.06.2022].
Cech Erin A. 2013. “The self-expressive edge of occupational sex segregation”. American Journal of Sociology 119(3): 747–789. https://doi.org/10.1086/673969.
Connell Raewyn W. 2003. “Developing a theory of gender as practice: Notes on Yancey Martin’s feminist lecture”. Gender & Society 17(3): 370–372. https://doi.org/10.1177/089124320301700300.
Connell Raewyn W. 2006. “Glass ceilings or gendered institutions? Mapping the gender regimes of public sector worksites”. Public Administration Review 66(6): 837–849. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2006.00652.x.
Connell Raewyn W., James W. Messerschmidt. 2005. “Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept”. Gender & Society 19(6): 829–859. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243205278.
Cooper Marianne. 2000. “Being the «go-to guy»: Fatherhood, masculinity, and the organization of work in Silicon Valley”. Qualitative Sociology 23(4): 379–405. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005522707921.
Dobrzyńska Magdalena. 2019. „Od rewolucji technologicznej do transformacji socjoekonomicznej – niestandardowe formy wykonywania pracy w świecie Internetu”. Bezpieczeństwo Pracy. Nauka i Praktyka 575(8): 13–16. https://doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0013.3193.
Elliott Karla. 2015. “Caring masculinities: Theorizing an emerging concept”. Men and Masculinities 19(3): 240–259. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X15576203.
Etzkowitz Henry, Marina Ranga. 2011. “Gender dynamics in science and technology: From the «leaky pipeline» to the «vanish box»”. Brussels Economic Review 54(2/3): 131–147.
Ewens Michael, Richard R. Townsend. 2020. “Are early stage investors biased against women?”. Journal of Financial Economics 135(3): 653–677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2019.07.002.
Facebook Annual Diversity Report. 2021. https://about.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Facebook-Annual-Diversity-Report-July-2021.pdf [access: 15.05.2022].
Farrell Warren. 2001. The myth of male power. Berkley Publishing Group.
Feldman Robin, Alice Armitage, Connie Wang. 2017. “The gender gap in startup catalyst organizations: Bridging the divide between narrative and reality”. Oregon Law Review 95(2): 313–336.
Google Diversity Annual Report. 2021. https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/ diversity.google/pl//annualreport/static/pdfs/google_2021_diversity_annual_report.pdf?cachebust=2e13d07 [access: 15.05.2022].
Gromkowska-Melosik Agnieszka. 2013. „Feminizacja zawodu nauczycielskiego – «różowe kołnierzyki» i paradoksy rynku pracy”. Studia Edukacyjne 25: 85–100.
Hernandez-Nicolas Carmen M., Juan F. Martín-Ugedo, Antonio Mínguez-Vera. 2015. “The influence of gender on financial decisions: Evidence from small start-up firms in Spain”. Economics and Management 4(18): 93–107.
Illuminate Ventures. 2010. High performance entrepreneurs: Women in high tech. https://illuminate.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/High-Performance-Entrepreneurs-2012.pdf [access: 20.03.2022].
Kankkunen Tina F. 2014. “Access to networks in genderized contexts: The construction of
hierarchical networks and inequalities in feminized, caring and masculinized, technical
occupations”. Gender, Work & Organization 21(4): 340–352. https://doi.org/10.1111/
gwao.12040.
Kanter Rosabeth M. 1977. Men and women of the corporation. New York: Basic Books.
Kanze Dana, Laura Huang, Mark A. Conley, E. Tory Higgins. 2018. “We ask men to win and women not to lose: Closing the gender gap in startup funding”. Academy of Management Journal 61(2): 586–614. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.1215.
Kimmel Michael. 2011. The gendered society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Klimczak-Ziółek Jolanta. 2014. Męskie ciało w dyskursie „postrobotniczym”. W: O współczesnych praktykach genderyzacji ciała, K. Wódz, J. Klimczak-Ziółek (red.), 162–173. Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego.
Komisja Europejska. 2020. EU SME Strategy for a sustainable and digital Europe https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/communication-sme-strategy-march-2020_en.pdf [access: 20.03.2022].
Kowalczyk Ilona. 2020. „Start-up jako przejaw innowacyjnej przedsiębiorczości w Polsce”. Studia Ekonomiczne, Prawne i Administracyjne 1: 63–77.
Krause Ewa. 2019. „Kariera naukowa kobiet”. Edukacja Ustawiczna Dorosłych 104(1): 73–89.
Kubisa Julia. 2019. „Trzy światy męskiej pracy – stałość i zmiana wzorów w zmaskulinizowanych zawodach”. Studia Socjologiczne 234(3): 171–196. https://doi.org/10.24425/sts.2019.126147.
Leszczyńska Katarzyna. 2014. „Świeccy mężczyźni i kobiety w instytucji Kościoła rzymskokatolickiego w Polsce”. Studia Socjologiczne 1(212): 45–76.
Levina Marina, Amy A. Hasinoff. 2017. “The Silicon Valley ethos: Tech industry products, discourses, and practices”. Television & New Media 18(6): 489–495. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476416680454.
Martin Patricia Y. 2006. “Practising gender at work: Further thoughts on reflexivity”. Gender, Work & Organization 13(3): 254–276. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2006.00307.x.
Matricano Diego. 2020. “Economic and social development generated by innovative startups: Does heterogeneity persist across Italian macro-regions?”. Economics of Innovation & New Technology 31(6): 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/10438599.2020.1823675.
Mickey Ethel L. 2019. “When gendered logics collide: Going public and restructuring in a high-tech organization”. Gender & Society 33(4): 509–533. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243219830.
Młodożeniec Marek, Anna Knapińska. 2013. „Czy nauka wciąż ma męską płeć? Udział kobiet w nauce”. Nauka 2: 47–72.
Pearse Rebecca, Raewyn Connell. 2016. “Gender norms and the economy: Insights from social research”. Feminist Economics 22(1): 30–53. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2015.1078485.
Pell Alice N. 1996. “Fixing the leaky pipeline: Women scientists in academia”. Journal of Animal Science 74(11): 2843–2848. https://doi.org/10.2527/1996.74112843x.
Pöllänen Katri. 2021. “Organizational culture and masculinities in a startup company in Finland”. Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies 11(4): 117–135. https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.126226.
Price-Glynn Kim, Carter Rakovski. 2012. “Who rides the glass escalator? Gender, race and nationality in the national nursing assistant study”. Work, Employment & Society 26(5): 699–715. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017012451634.
Prokurat Sergiusz, Łukasz Świerżewski. 2013. “Nadchodzi praca 2.0”. Harvard Business Review Polska lipiec–sierpień: 51–63.
Reskin Barbara F., Patricia A. Roos. 1990. Job queues, gender queues: Explaining women’s inroads into male occupations. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Ridgeway Cecilia L., Shelley J. Correll. 2004. “Unpacking the gender system: A theoretical perspective on gender beliefs and social relations”. Gender & Society 18(4): 510–531. https:// doi.org/10.1177/0891243204265269.
Ryan Michelle K., Alexsander S. Haslam. 2007. “The glass cliff: Exploring the dynamics surrounding the appointment of women to precarious leadership positions”. Academy of Management Review 32(2): 549–572. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.2007.24351856.
Sargent Amanda C., Jill E. Yavorsky, Rosalyn G. Sandoval. 2021. “Organizational logic in coworking spaces: Inequality regimes in the new economy”. Gender & Society 35(1): 5–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243220974691.
Scott James. 2015. Za kulisami oficjalnej wersji. W: Opór i dominacja: antologia tekstów, A. Pasieka, K. Zielińska (red.), 145–158. Kraków: Zakład Wydawniczy NOMOS.
Shih Johanna. 2006. “Circumventing discrimination: Gender and ethnic strategies in Silicon Valley”. Gender & Society 20(2): 177–206. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243205285474.
Shuttleworth Nick, Dan van der Schans, Alice Hu Wagner, Joe Fowles, Joel Connolly, Sarah Hird, Francesca Warner, Travis Winstanley. 2018. UK VC and female founders. Report by the British Business Bank in collaboration with Diversity VC i B VCA. https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/uk-vc-female-founders-report/ [access: 15.05.2022].
Skala Agnieszka. 2019. The startup as a result of innovative enterpreneurship. In: Digital startups in transition economies. A. Skala, 1–40. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01500-8.
Slutskaya Natasha, Ruth Simpson, Jason Huges, Alexander, Selçuk Uygur. 2016. “Masculinity and class in the context of dirty work”. Gender, Work & Organization 23(2): 165–182. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12119.
Startup Genome. 2021. The representation of female leaders and women working in the European tech startup ecosystem. https://startupgenome.com/reports/female-leaders-european-startups [access: 13.03.2021].
Startup Poland. 2019. Polskie startupy. Raport 2019. https://startuppoland.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Startup-Poland-raport-Polskie-startupy-2019-PL-www-1.pdf [dostęp: 15.05.2022].
Twine France W. 2022. Geek girls. Inequality and opportunity in Silicon Valley. New York: New York University Press.
Williams Christine L. 2017. “The gender of layoffs in the oil and gas industry”. Research in the Sociology of Work 31: 215–241. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0277-283320170000031007.
Williams Christine L. 2 013. “ The g lass e scalator, revisited: G ender inequality i neoliberal times, SWS feminist lecture”. Gender & Society 27(5): 609–629. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243213490232.
Williams Christine L. 1992. “The glass escalator: Hidden advantages for men in the «female» professions”. Social Problems 39(3): 253–267.
Williams Christine L., Chandra Muller, Kristine Kilanski. 2012. “Gendered organizations in the new economy”. Gender & Society 26(4): 549–573. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243212445466.
Wingfield Adia H. 2009. “Racializing the glass escalator”. Gender & Society 23(1): 5–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243208323054.
Women in VC. The untapped potential of women-led funds. 2020. https://assets.ctfassets.net/jh572x5wd4r0/7qRourAWPj0U9R7MN5nWgy/711a6d8344bcd4fbe0f1a6dcf766a3c0/WVC_Report_-_The_Untapped_Potential_of_Women-Led_Funds.pdf [access: 10.04.2022].
Wynn Alison T., Shelley J. Correll. 2018. “Puncturing the pipeline: Do technology companies alienate women in recruiting sessions?”. Social Studies of Science 48(1): 149–164. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312718756766.
