Power and Privilege, Meaning and Management - Gender in the Board Room

The lack of women in leading positions in innovation and economic life is in many ways the last bastion of the battle of gender equality in Norway. Women are well represented in working life and hold leading positions in politics; however, their presence in business management is rare, especially at higher levels. The project application consists of two different angles on gender and management with a focus on board work. In addition to these two, a pre-funded PhD project is linked to the overall project. This cross-disciplinary focus incorporates the combined knowledge of scholars from gender studies, rural studies and cultural studies. What binds them is that each perspective is concerned with gender and management. Each perspective, however, interrogate s the data from different disciplinary and theoretical perspectives and bring greater rigour through triangulation. Whilst we will be asking similar, but not identical, research questions, we will highlight the joint theoretical and methodological interes ts across the projects. In particular, theories of interpretation of the data, (documents, interviews and media representations) will be highlighted. Through this collaborative study, we aim to contribute to a better understanding of gender equity in lead ership and innovation. New theoretical understandings in this field may reveal new possible positions for women and men in such a way that future actions can prove more effective.