Gender as headline and subtext: problematizing the gender perspective in an occupational health project

Abstract

The focus of this article is on how a “gender perspective” becomes lifted to the headlines as a solution to an organizational problem. The purpose of this article is to problematize how a gender perspective was employed in the everyday practices of an occupational health project in a Swedish municipality. The project's stated aim was to construct and implement a new model for occupational health, targeting the municipality's employees, and gender equality was seen as one means of reducing sick leave among the staff. Our focus was the participants’ perceptions of their participation and their reflections on the content and practices of the program. The information was gathered from focus-group interviews with participants in a management training program (MTP) and a rehabilitation program (RP) and from documents produced within the project. Drawing from feminist writings on gender subtexts defined as a set of concealed power based processes (re)producing gender distinctions in organizations, we have explored how power structures are created based on socially constructed differences. Our results demonstrate how gender knowledge could reproduce inequality and hierarchical distinctions between people in different positions in working life.