The Emergence of a Powerful Female Workforce as a Threat to Organizational Identity

Abstract

This article examines the stresses experienced by women and men and organizations in response to the emergence of a powerful female workforce. Observations and interpretations focus primarily on two traditionally male organizations in the fields of finance and technology that are experiencing a significant increase in senior-level female employees. The author proposes that the understanding of internal and external conflicts women experience in the workplace as well as the dynamics between men and women are greatly enhanced when psychoanalysis is integrated with organizational and management theory, sociological and educational theories, and contributions from other psychological disciplines. It is further suggested that psychoanalytic consultation be applied to the problem of gender integration and the assimilation of a strong female workforce into organizational identity.