Abstract :
This paper revisits Kanter’s (1977) seminal work Men andWomen of the Corporation,
rereading her account of numerical advantage and disadvantage through a poststructuralist
lens which exposes hidden dimensions of gendered power. This lens is
captured in the ‘(In)visibility Vortex’ (Lewis and Simpson, 2010) which highlights
struggles and tensions around the norm through processes of preservation and concealment
within the norm as well as dynamics of revealing, exposure and disappearance
as features of the margins. The study draws on developments in feminist
theorizing, specially around visibility, invisibility and power, to facilitate this rereading.
In so doing, the author demonstrate that while Kanter retreated from explanations
based on the gendering of organizations or from recognition of gendered power,
these dynamics can be identified in her text. The authors suggest that rereading
classic texts can surface dimensions of organizations that have contemporary significance
and can inform future research.
