Work

Crafting Spaces: Deleuzian Perspectives on Women's Identity Work in Male‐Dominated Jobs

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT This paper proposes Deleuzian concepts of becoming minor, lines of flight, and deterritorialization and reterritorialization as a way of understanding identity work based on the experiences of women in male‐dominated jobs. We suggest that Deleuze's frame emphasizes fluidity and rejects category‐limited choices, and it opens up the possibility of engaging with new agentic framing for women utilizing identity work to craft spaces for themselves in a male‐dominated work environment. Through a thematic analysis of the experiences of 15 (semi‐)skilled women in routine‐task, manual, male‐dominated jobs across three male‐dominated industries in South Africa, we propose an alternative lens for examining women's identity work. This lens both challenges and expands traditional theories, highlighting the nuanced strategies and agentic behavior employed by workplace minorities to carve out niches for themselves in job spaces that often position them at the periphery.

Source: Gender Work and Organization

DOI: 10.1111/gwao.70078

Authors: Obaa Akua Konadu‐Osei, Smaranda Boroş, Anita Bosch

Institutions: Stellenbosch University, Maastricht University, Vlerick Business School, Ghent University

Language: English

Topic: Gender Diversity and Inequality

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Gender equality, Decent work and economic growth, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,880