Introduction: Gender, embodiment and fluidity in organization and management

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides recognition to their thinking and praxis, each writer making political inroads into changing the lived experiences of those who have suffered discrimination, exclusion and marginalization. It also provides examples of the ways in which women are placed in a double bind, whereby they do not wish to collude in the maintenance of dominant patriarchal systems but see little opportunity to do otherwise. The book discusses a range of texts that outline possibilities for living gender and sexuality differently. Studies of gender difference are well developed in the field of management and organization studies, starting with research that sought to highlight women’s different experiences in relation to men. Reading gender into management and organization theory provide more than just an interesting historical footnote or post-hoc corrective.