Masculinity and Women Teachers at Christian Brothers College

Abstract

In this paper I attempt to fill partially a gap identified by Mills (1988) who claims that, despite the emergence of a strong body of literature on organizational culture, gender has remained 'at best' a marginal theme in this literature. Draw ing upon notions of agency and structure, I report a case study of aspects of the construction of masculine subjectivities in a Catholic boys' school, and of the encounter of women teachers with its organizational culture. Such a focus is particularly revealing of the institution's gender regime. I examine gender as an aspect of background rules and hegemonic culture as they are mediated within the institutional context of the school. Finally, I consider the responses of the women to their encounter with the institution in terms of feminist possibilities for organizational reform.