Gendering the Iron Law of Oligarchy: Or how organizing an official football team became a strategy of “passive revolution”

Abstract

The ongoing debate in organization and management studies regarding the transformation of oligarchic structures through rank-and-file participation often overlooks gender dynamics. Drawing from the experience of Argentine women playing football independently, this article argues that promoting gender inequalities and reinforcing masculine stereotypes can preserve class disparities in trade unions. Additionally, it highlights how trade unions, by extending control into women's leisure, can perpetuate oligarchic structures, emphasizing the importance of politicizing leisure as a domain of gender inequalities. In turn, the patriarchal-oligarchic organization represents a unique form of class and gender domination that reconfigures itself by co-opting informal solidarity networks.