Gendered Constructions of Leadership in Danish Job Advertisements. Issue 6 (28th April 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Askehave, Inger; Zethsen, Karen Korning
• Is Part Of: Gender work and organization. Volume 21:Issue 6(2014:Nov.)
• Page Start: 531
• Page End: 545
• Publication Date: 2014-04-28
• Subjects: Sex role in the work environment -- Periodicals; Sexual division of labor -- Periodicals; Sex discrimination in employment -- Periodicals; Organizational sociology -- Periodicals; Industries -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 306.361505
• DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12053
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0968-6673

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>The purpose of this article is to consider the gender imbalance at top management level from a discourse analytical perspective. More specifically, it investigates the language of 39 Danish top executive job advertisements and considers which leadership identities are projected as desirable or necessary. This is done by carrying out two interlinked studies: a semantic field analysis of the sections in the job advertisements describing the leadership traits of the ideal candidate (Study 1) and a study of MBA students' responses to extracts from the advertisements as far as gender is concerned (Study 2). Semantic field analysis reveals that all the job advertisements are gender‐biased and that most traits described in the advertisements are associated with traditional or stereotypical masculine attributes. Study 2 confirms this finding, as respondents (MBA students) assign a masculine identity to the vast majority of the extracts from the job advertisements.</p> </abstract>