Organizations, Jobs and Gender: Joan Acker’s Theory in Practice

Organizations, Jobs and Gender: Joan Acker’s Theory in Practice provides a full application of Joan Acker’s five gendering processes through an in-depth case study of an Australian trade union. It demonstrates how gendered divisions, cultural images, everyday interactions, and identity work are organized and sustained through a logic of doing duty and being responsible. Drawing on life history interviews and participant observation, the book provides practical guidance on how to operationalize Acker’s framework in research, offering clear templates, methodological insights, and strategies for tracing subtle and often taken-for-granted inequalities. Written for scholars, graduate students, and researchers in sociology, gender studies, organization studies, and industrial relations, as well as union practitioners and activists, this book delivers an integrated roadmap for analyzing gender in organizations. Readers will gain the tools to see what is often hidden and to adapt Acker’s framework to complex empirical settings. By preserving and extending Acker’s legacy, the book advances methodological clarity and provides a foundation for future studies to uncover, challenge, and transform gendering in organizational life.

Trudy Bates is a Lecturer in Management at Edith Cowan University, School of Business and Law, Australia.