Beyond Hierarchy

the long version

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in issues of gender and sexuality in work and organizational life, and the non-profit sector - or what is also known as the social economy. At the same time, increasing attention is being given to the founding and running of more participative-democratic organizations, in which attempts to reduce or eliminate hierarchical power differences are made explicit. Because such organizations operate in 'flatter', less or non-hierarchical ways, they might be assumed to be places where gender and sexuality will make little difference to the experiences of workers. Indeed, second wave feminism claimed that co-operative and collective working was not only the most desirable way to organize politically, but was also the solution to hierarchy and power inequalities. This book takes issue with the assumption that where there is an absence of formal hierarchy, there is likely to be an absence of constraints predicated upon gender and sexuality. It is argued that the matter is more complex than the simple equating of less hierarchy with greater gender equality.