Gendered Organizational Logics in New Work Arrangements: Reducing and Reproducing Gender Inequality in Coworking Spaces

• In Event: 2351 - Section on the Sociology of Sex and Gender Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 3. Gender Bodies at Work

Abstract

Globalization, technological advances, and changing structures of work have facilitated greater flexibility in how and where many Americans do their paid work. A new work arrangement – coworking – has emerged in the United States in response to the rise in workers who have flexibility to work from home but prefer to work in environments where they can interact with other people. Despite the prevalence and potential benefits of coworking, little systematic research of gender in coworking contexts exists. Using 78 interviews and over 700 hours of observation across nine coworking spaces in a Southeastern metropolitan area in the United States, we examine the organizational logics that shape gendered interactions in shared coworking spaces. Building on previous gender, work, and organizations research, we examine how gendered organizational logics operate in the non-traditional context of coworking spaces. Findings suggest the unique arrangement of coworking both dismantles and reproduces traditional gender dynamics, and that sex-composition of spaces plays an important role in the degree to which gender inequality exists in these environments. We conclude with a discussion of important theoretical and empirical implications of these findings.

Authors

• Amanda C Sargent, UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA-CHARLOTTE

• Jill Evelyn Yavorsky, University of North Carolina Charlotte

• Rosalyn G. Sandoval, University Of North Carolina Charlotte