Masculinity and femininity in AMEAS: hologram, islands of clarity or a jungle unknown?

Abstract

The analysis of characteristics assigned to certain subjects and how these characteristics are socially constructed has become common in organizational studies. The privileges available in only a part of dual relationships, such as women and men (Fletcher, 1998), appear in the discourses and organizational practices as neutral and natural, however, demarcate and define the nature of work and their relations. In this paper we examine how the attributes of masculinity and femininity influence the meaning of being man or woman, an organization of the third sector. The organization under study as a pattern of meanings, values and behavior, is examined from three perspectives (Martin, 2001), to understand things that are shared, faced or ambiguous, as to the role of masculinity and femininity. This is a qualitative research, whose design is the research narrative. Data collection was performed by means of documents and semi-structured interviews with members of AMEAS. The results show inconsistencies, ambiguities and contradictions between the narratives found in the founding documents and the narratives of the subjects of the research on organizational practice.