Bureaucratic Allies in a Patriarchal World: Metrics and Governance in Gendered Organizations

• In Event: 3564 - Measuring and Managing Organizations

Abstract

This paper responds to a recent conversation about the role of numbers in “engendering reputation” by providing an interactional account of how metrics interact with gendered organizations. Drawing from interviews with gender advisers—the professionals tasked with mainstreaming gender in development projects—in an East African country, my work demonstrates the complex interrelationship between gender social norms, gendered bodies in a workplace, and metrics. By using gendered organizations theories, I show that the appeal of quantified metrics is driven not by validity, but by power relations in the workplace. I argue this creates a desire by gender advisers to wield indicators as bureaucratic allies in their gendered workplaces. I make two contributions: I demonstrate how the development industry’s focus on gender has important implications on the scope conditions of gendered organizations. Secondly, I show why resistance to quantified metrics does not emerge from the field office, resulting in knowledge production that is unable to capture the structural inequalities women face.

Author

• Emily Springer, University of Minnesota