Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T12:00:34.791Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Profitable margins: The story behind ‘our stories’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Irene Ryan*
Affiliation:
Division of Sport & Recreation, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract

Institutionalised sport offers a context of ‘profitable margins’ for gender and diversity scholars in management and organisation studies to understand the intersections of different identity categories. Sport is about gendered bodies which are sorted into overt, pre-determined categories, such as sex, chronological age, ethnicity and disability. The storyline is illustrative of this as it traces a methodological journey and identifies three challenges that evolved in research aimed at exploring the intersections of gender and age in sport. It will discuss how further contributions can be made by placing self as the subject and object of the research through the use of the method known as memory-work. Memory-work is a method theoretically constructed as non-hierarchical, inclusive research. In this article this method is applied from an individual stance which created tensions and unexpected challenges. Despite its limitations memory-work opens up possibilities to those researchers wanting to adopt a multiple lens within gender and diversity research.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acker, J. (2006) Inequality regimes. gender, class and race in organizations. Gender & Society, 20(4): 441464.Google Scholar
Acker, J. (1990). Hierarchies, jobs, bodies. A theory of gendered organizations. Gender & Society, 4(2): 139158.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, S. (2002) The ‘feminine advantage’: A discursive analysis of the invisibility of older women workers. Gender, Work & Organization, 9(5): 579601Google Scholar
Alvesson, M. & Skoldberg, K. (2000). Reflexive methodology. New vistas for qualitative research. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Arber, S. & Ginn, J. (1995) ‘Only connect’: Gender relations and ageing. In Arber, S. & Ginn, J. (Eds.), Connecting gender and ageing: A sociological approach, pp. 114. Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Benschop, Y. (2006) Of small steps and the longing for giant leaps: Research on the intersection of sex and gender within work and organization. In: Prasad, P., Pringle, J.K. & Konrad, A.M.. (eds.), Handbook of Workplace Diversity, pp. 273298. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Boucher, C. (1997) How women socially construct leadership in organizations: A study using memory-work. Gender, Work & Organization, 4(3): 149158.Google Scholar
Britton, D. M. & Logan, L. (2008) Gendered organizations: progress and prospects. Sociology Compass, 2(1): 107121.Google Scholar
Broadbridge, A. & Hearn, J. (2008) Gender and management: new directions in research and continuing patterns in practice. British Journal of Management, 19: S48S49Google Scholar
Bytheway, B. & Johnson, J. (1990) On defining ageism. Critical Social Policy 29(1): 2739.Google Scholar
Cadman, K., Friend, L. A., Gannon, S., Ingleton, C., Koutroulis, G., McCormack, C.et al (2001) Memory-workers doing memory-work on memory-work: exploring unresolved power, pp. 7693. Sydney: University of Technology, Sydney.Google Scholar
Calas, M. & Smircich, L. (2006). From ‘The woman's‘ point of view, Ten years later: Towards a feminist organization studies. In Clegg, S., Hardy, C. & Nord, W. (eds.), The Sage Handbook of Organisation Studies, pp. 284–246. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Coakley, J. (2007). Sport in society: issues and controversies (9th edn). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Collins, C. (2007) Studying sport in society. In Collins, C. and Jackson, S. (eds.), Sport in Aotearoa/New Zealand Society (2nd edn) pp. 222. South Melbourne VIC: Thomson.Google Scholar
Collins, P. H. (1991) Black feminist thought. Knowledge, consciousness and the politics of empowerment (Vol. 2). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Collins, P. H. (1999). Learning from the outsider within: the sociological significance of black feminist thought. In Hesse-Biber, S., Gilmartin, C. & Lydenberg, R. (eds.), Feminist approaches to theory and methodology. an interdisciplinary reader, pp. 135178. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Crawford, J., Kippax, S., Onyx, J., Gault, U. & Benton, P. (1992) Emotion and gender: Constructing meaning from memory. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Denzin, N. K. (1997) Interpretive ethnography. Ethnographicpractices for the 21st century. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
DeVault, M. L. (1999) Liberating method. Feminism and social research. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Dill, B.T., McLaughlin, A. E. & Nieves, A. D. (2007) Future directions of feminist research: intersectionality. In: Hesse-Biber, S. N. (ed.), Handbook of feminist research. Theory and praxis, pp. 629638. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Dionigi, R. (2006) Competitive sport as leisure in later life: Negotiations, discourse and aging. Leisure Sciences, 28: 181196.Google Scholar
Dionigi, R. & O'Flynn, G. (2007) Performance discourses and old age: what does it mean to be an older athlete? Sociology of Sport Journal, 24: 359377.Google Scholar
Duncan, C. & Loretto, W. (2004) Never the right age? Gender and age-based discrimination in employment. Gender, Work & Organization, 11(1): 95115.Google Scholar
Duquin, M. (2000) Sport and emotions. In: Coakley, J. and Dunning, E. (eds.), Handbook of Sports Studies, pp. 477489. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Ellis, C. & Bochner, A. P. (2000) Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity. In: Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (eds.), The Handbook of Irene Ryan (2nd edn) pp. 733768. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Ely, R. & Meyerson, D. (2000) Advancing gender equity in organizations: the challenge and importance of maintaining a gender narrative. Organization, 7(4): 589608.Google Scholar
Encel, S. (1998) Age discrimination. In: Patrickson, M. & Hartmann, L. (eds.), Managing an ageing workforce, pp. 4153. Warriewood NSW: Woodslane.Google Scholar
Featherstone, M. (1991) The body in consumer culture. In: Featherstone, M., Hepworth, M. & Turner, B. (eds.), The body: Social process and cultural theory, pp. 170196). London: Sage.Google Scholar
Friend, L. A. (1997) Realities of women's clothing shopping experiences: Implications for understanding consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Otago, Dunedin.Google Scholar
Gergen, M. & Gergen, K. (2000) Qualitative inquiry: tensions and transformations. In: Denzin, N. & Lincoln, Y. (eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research, pp. 10251043. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Glenn, E. N. (1999). The social construction and institutionalization of gender and race: An integrative framework. In: Ferree, M., Lorber, J. & Hess, J. (eds.), Revisioning Gender, pp. 343. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Haug, F. (1992) Beyond female masochism: Memory-work and politics (Livingstone, R., Trans.). London: Verso.Google Scholar
Harding, S. (2007) Feminist standpoints. In: Hesse-Biber, Sharlene Nagy (ed.). Handbook of feminist research. Theory and praxis, pp. 4570. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Hesse-Biber, S. (2007) Feminist research. Exploring the interconnections of epistemology, methdology, and method. In: Hesse-Biber, S. (ed.) Handbook of feminist research. Theory and praxis, pp. 126. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Hesse-Biber, S. & Leavy, P. L. (2007) Feminist research practice. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Hesse-Biber, S. & Piatelli, D. (2007) From theory to method and back again. The synergistic praxis of theory and method. In: Hesse-Biber, S.N. (ed.), Handbook of feminist research. Theory and praxis, pp. 143153. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Hoeber, L. (2008) Gender equity for athletes: Multiple understandings of an organizational value. Sex Roles, 58: 5871.Google Scholar
Hokowhitu, B. (2007) Maori sport: Pre-colonisation to today. In: Collins, C. and Jackson, S. (eds.) Sport in Aotearoa/New Zealand Society (2nd edn) pp.7895. South Melbourne VIC: Thomson.Google Scholar
Holvino, E. (2003) Complicating gender: the simultaneity of race, gender and class in organization change(ing). In: Ely, R.J., Foldy, E.G. & Scully, M.A. (eds.), Reader in gender, work and organization, pp. 8798. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Holliday, A. (2007) Doing and writing qualitative research. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Ingleton, C. (2001) Meaning-making: Issues of analysis in memory-work, pp. 6575. Sydney: University of Technology, Sydney.Google Scholar
Johnston, B. (2001) Memory-work: The power of the mundane, pp. 3141. Sydney: University of Technology, Sydney.Google Scholar
Katila, S., & Merilainen, S. (2002). Self in research: hopelessly entangled in the gendered organisational culture. In: Aaltio, I. & Mills, A. (eds.), Gender, identity and the culture of the organisations, pp. 185200. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Koutroulis, G. (2001) Talk about men and sidelining! The ‘other’ text in a memory-work study about menstruation, pp. 5464. Sydney: University of Technology, Sydney.Google Scholar
Kuhn, A. (1995) Family secrets. Acts of memory and imagination. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Lewis, P. (2006) The quest for invisibility: female entrepreneurs and the masculine norm of entrepreneurship. Gender, Work & Organization, 13(5): 453469.Google Scholar
Lincoln, Y. S. & Guba, E. G. (2000) Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging confluences. In: Denzin, N.K. & Lincoln, Y.S. (eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research (2nd edn.) pp. 163188. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Markula, P. (ed.) (2005) Feminist sport studies: sharing experiences of joy and pain. Albany NY: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Markula, P. (2003) Sharing joy, sharing pain: Reflections on feminist sport studies. Paper presented at the International Sociology of Sport Association, Cologne.Google Scholar
Markula, P. & Friend, L. A. (2005) Remember when.…Memory-work as an interpretive methodology for sport management. Journal of Sport Management. 19: 442463.Google Scholar
McCall, L. (2005) The complexity of intersectionality. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 30(8): 17711799.Google Scholar
McGregor, J., & Gray, L. (2001) Mature job-seekers in New Zealand. Palmerston North: Massey University.Google Scholar
McMullin, J. (1995) Theorizing age and gender relations. In: Arber, S. & Ginn, J. (Eds.), Connecting gender and ageing. A sociological approach, pp. 3041. Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Messner, M. A. (2007) Out of play. Critical essays on gender and sport. Albany NY: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Naples, N. A. (2003) Feminism and method. Ethnography, discourse analysis and activist research. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Nielsen, J. M. (1990). Introduction. In: Nielsen, J. M. (Ed.), Feminist research methods. Exemplary readings in the social sciences, pp. 140. Boulder CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Nolan, M. (2000). Breadwinning: New Zealand women and the state. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press.Google Scholar
Obel, C. & Kerr, R. (2007). The sporting body: Whose body is right for sport? In Collins, C. and Jackson, S. (eds.), Sport in Aotearoa/NewZealand Society, pp. 381398. South Melbourne VIC: Thomson.Google Scholar
Olesen, V. (2000). Feminisms and qualitative research at and into the millennium. In: Denzin, N. & Lincoln, Y. (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research, pp. 215253. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Onyx, J. (1998) Older women workers: a double jeopardy? In Patrickson, M. & Hartmann, L. (eds.), Managing an ageing workforce, pp. 88105. Warriewood NSW: Woodslane.Google Scholar
Ovens, A. (2004) The (im)possibility of critical reflection: the lived experience of reflective practice in teacher education. Unpublished PhD thesis, The University of Queensland.Google Scholar
Patrickson, M. (2001) Older workers: Downsized ugly ducklings or value-adding swans? Paper presented at ANZAM, Unitec, Auckland.Google Scholar
Perry, E. L. & Parlamis, J. D. (2006) Age and ageism in organizations: a review and consideration of national culture. In: Konrad, A.M., Prasad, P. and Pringle, J. K. (eds.), Handbook of Workplace Diversity, pp. 345370. Thousand Oaks CA: SageGoogle Scholar
Phoenix, C. & Sparkes, A. C. (2006). Keeping it in the family: narrative maps of ageing and young athletes' perceptions of their futures. Ageing and Society, 26: 631648.Google Scholar
Phoenix, A. & Pattynama, P. (2006). Editorial – Intersectionality. European Journal of Women's Studies, 13: 187192.Google Scholar
Poggio, B. (2006) Editorial: Outline of a theory of gender practices. Gender, Work & Organization, 13(3): 225233.Google Scholar
Reinharz, S. (1992) Feminist methods in social research. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Reinharz, S. & Chase, S. E. (2003) Interviewing women. In: Holstein, J. A. & Gubrium, J. F. (eds.), Inside interviewing. New lenses, new concerns, pp. 7390. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Richardson, L. (2000) Writing. A method of inquiry. In: Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (eds.), The Handbook of Qualitative Research (2nd edn.) pp. 923948. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Richardson, L. (2007) Reading for another. a method for addressing some feminist research dilemmas. In: Hesse-Biber, S. (Ed.) Handbook of feminist research. Theory and praxis pp. 459467. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Ryan, I. D. (2005) ‘Their stories, our stories, my stories’. The intersectionality of age and gender through the voices of mid-life sportswomen. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Auckland.Google Scholar
Ryan, I. D. (2006) Voices from the margins: older sportswomen speak out. Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, 15(2): 314.Google Scholar
Ryan, I. D. (2008) ‘No Future – You are Just Too Old!’: Moving beyond stereotypes. In: Obel, C., Bruce, T. & Thompson, S. (eds.), Outstanding research about women and sport in New Zealand, pp.191210. Hamilton: The University of Waikato.Google Scholar
Shaw, S. & Cameron, J. (2008). ‘The Best Person for the Job’: Gender suppression and homologous reproduction in senior sport management. In: Obel, C., Bruce, T. & Thompson, S. (eds.), Outstanding research about women and sport in New Zealand, pp. 211226. Hamilton: The University of Waikato.Google Scholar
Sheldon, S. (2002) The masculine body. In: Evans, M. & Lee, E. (Eds.), Real bodies. A sociological introduction, pp. 1428. New York: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Simpson, R. and Lewis, P. (2007) Voice, visibility and the gendering of organizations. Palgrave Macmillan: New York.Google Scholar
Sironen, E. (1994) On memory-work in the theory of body culture. International Review for Sociology of Sport, 29: 511.Google Scholar
Small, J. (1999) Memory-work: A method for researching women's tourist experiences. Tourism Management, 20: 2535.Google Scholar
Small, J. & Onyx, J. (2001) Introduction. Memory-work: A critique, pp. 16. Sydney: University of Technology, Sydney.Google Scholar
Sprague, J. (2001) Comment on Walby's ‘Against epistemological chasms: The science question in feminism revisited’: Structured knowledge and strategic methodology. Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 26(21): 527536.Google Scholar
Stephenson, N. (2001) If parties are battles, what are we?Practising collectivity, pp. 4253. Sydney: University of Technology, Sydney.Google Scholar
Tienari, J., Quack, S. & Theobald, H. (2002) Organizational reforms, ‘ideal workers' and gender orders: a cross-societal comparison. Organization Studies, 23(2): 249279.Google Scholar
Vertinsky, P. (1995) Stereotypes of aging women and exercise: a historical perspective. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 3: 223237.Google Scholar
Vertinsky, P. (2000) Eternally wounded women? Feminist perspectives on physical activity and aging or a woman's p(l)ace in the marathon of life. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 8: 386406.Google Scholar