Abstract
Over the last 20 years, questions of gender (in)equality have received increasing attention within organization studies, but even more so in public calls and initiatives aimed at making women fit for being professional(s). As female scholars, we have taken part in training and network initiatives targeted at women. In these well-intentioned events, we have learned how to ‘lean in’, how to become more confident or simply smile more, and how to properly ‘plan’ childbirth by having a C-section in order to navigate paper deadlines. Such instances often left us frustrated. However, they also ensured that we bought in to the narrative that, as women, we were the problem that needed fixing.
This is where the podcast The Fix steps in. It argues that we need to let go of the idea that women are broken. In discussions with her guests, ranging from researchers, politicians, actors and artists to founders and business leaders, the podcast’s host, Michelle Penelope King, debunks the narrative that gender inequality is a matter of fixing women and, instead, focuses on providing insights and reflections for fixing the system.
In what follows, we argue that podcasts are a valuable genre for reflection-in-action as opposed to reflection-on-action (Schön, 1983). As we immerse ourselves in the world of other people, rather than following a theoretical argument, we can immediately relate to their experience and compare it to our own. In line with Rouleau’s (2024) argument that genres such as documentaries, TV series or art exhibitions are excellent ways to learn about phenomena and create impact, we deconstruct The Fix podcast following Lundström and Lundström’s (2020) idea of ‘podcast ethnography’. We (1) explore this podcast as we familiarize ourselves with its universe, (2) examine it from a practice-theoretical perspective, and (3) engage with the genre of podcasts.
Exploring The Fix Podcast
As of today, The Fix has 213 episodes, focusing on issues such as gender-driven perception gaps, toxic work environments that hurt women, and the derailment of female career paths. Without much sugarcoating, some of King’s guests share very personal experiences (e.g. about sexual abuse), while others use reports, statistics and other findings from their work and research to explain ‘what’ produces gender (in)equality. Michelle Harrison (19.1.2022), for example, links the Reykjavik Index of Leadership to the recurring question of progress: ‘Aren’t we becoming more progressive? Won’t younger generations ensure we have greater equality because they hold more liberal views?’ Based on these questions, she discusses how younger people are more prejudiced against women in leadership positions than older generations, which highlights that progress is not only stalling but reversing.
The taken-for-grantedness of actions and the resulting practices around the ideal male worker narrative are established as important sources for the reproduction of gender inequality. Bias against workers who deviate from stereotypes often results in punishment from the system. Pilot Kimberly Perkins speaks about the aviation industry, where ‘female pilots constitute only 5% of the workforce’ (24.06.2020). As she talks about the many efforts that have not led to any changes, she explains how the industry still requires women to ‘blend in’ and ‘just be one of the guys’. A main issue is how the flight scheduling practice is consequential as it is designed ‘against’ women with caregiving responsibilities. As the schedule dictates pilots’ lives and as you only gain in schedule predictability with seniority and by being a ‘good’ worker, women are systematically held back or decide to drop out.
Shifting the attention to problematic practices and questioning the idea that the pathway towards gender equality is just a matter of time, the different episodes of The Fix establish how gender equality cannot be a female task but needs to involve a broader set of actors engaged in fixing the system. But what does fixing the system mean? We argue that it entails a shift from understanding what gender inequality is to examining what it does and how. Accordingly, we suggest a practice lens to reveal how ‘structures [. . .] get away from us (become reified) and how they can be changed (through collective action)’ (Feldman & Orlikowski, 2011, p. 1247).
Examining the Practice of Gender (In)Equality
We found The Fix podcast to embrace a core insight from practice theory, namely that gender (in)equality is not a given reality, but rather a practice that is upheld, changed or abandoned through collective and ongoing actions. A red thread across many episodes is that many actors focus on actions that reproduce instead of challenge the practice of gender inequality. For example, the podcast elucidates how women and other marginalized groups often perform self-regulating actions to counteract prejudices (07.12.2022). In such situations, women often try to ‘make everyone feel better about their success [and] put other people at ease with their authority’. As these actions are being performed regularly, they not only become ingrained and normalized, but they take a toll on people (e.g. causing stress and anxiety). Such corrective actions on behalf of actors, who are marginalized or discriminated against, become part of the constant flow of microaggressions experienced in the workplace and beyond and are best described as ‘death by a million cuts’ (Prothero, 2023).
However, the podcast does not remain in the realm of identifying problems but takes the listener on a journey to identify relevant actions (Feldman & Pentland, 2022, p. 853) and how small changes therein may have the potential to move the practice of gender inequality towards a practice of gender equality. Taking Iceland as an example of greater gender justice (19.01.2022), we learn how men routinely take parental leave, and that parenting is a practice shared across genders. As explained by Trudi Lebron (06.04.2022), the practice of gender equality is less about extra meetings or more initiatives but a matter of everyday life and actions.
The question arising from that is how we can deliberately engage in fostering positive interactions – performing micro-affections instead of micro-aggressions – to create an environment of gender equality. Several episodes discuss the importance of having allies and how we can change from bystanders to upstanders as we witness problematic practices: Recently a male colleague asked me what he could do to support women at work, and I told him to start by being an ally. Simply speaking up when someone makes a derogatory comment about women [. . .] is how men can practise this [and] create equality at work. (18.11.2021)
Colleen Ammerman (19.10.2022) urges the listeners to engage in actions no matter how small and irrelevant they may seem.
Seen from a practice lens, the podcast illustrates how the practice of gender equality is as much a collective as a mindful effort. Remaking connections – breaking out of existing patterns – requires work on behalf of men and women. Lily Zheng (26.10.2022) explains that we need to create more connections to others in our attempts to organize for and push towards more gender equality. For instance, if we want to hire more diverse employees, we may connect to the HR department, external consultants or peers to create new practices in our own hiring committees. As new connections are forged between actors and their actions, the practice of gender inequality potentially moves to become a practice of gender equality.
Seeing gender (in)equality as practice – a lived experience of specific people at specific times and places – enables us to ‘engage in the action necessary’ while ensuring that we ‘value difference’ in people’s experiences (6.4.2022). The fact that listeners are immersed in others’ lived experiences through the podcast provides unique opportunities for seeing how understanding, reflection and change emerge in action (Feldman & Pentland, 2022; Schön, 1983).
Engaging with the Podcast as a Genre of Immersion
Podcasts immerse their audience by creating ‘intimacy and affective charge’ with listeners (McGregor, 2022, p. 4). The Fix draws listeners in to the lived experiences of other people as they revolve around the topic of gender (in)equality. While books and articles often start with the ‘big picture’ to set the scene, podcast episodes usually start by zooming in on the concrete, breaking up abstract debates, and rendering the underlying practices and actions accessible and observable.
Listening to The Fix podcast as female scholars led to both immediate reactions and delayed realizations. The emotional energy that is generated in such moments, however, is not a bounded experience but one that occurs while performing other actions such as driving to work, cooking a meal, or waiting at a bus stop. As a genre of immersion, podcasts allow topics and conversations to linger subconsciously and the outside world to slowly become entangled in the podcast listening experience. For example, many of us have attended academic conferences where male panellists shared their success strategies such as hiding away for weeks to finish an important paper without interruption. This took us back to the experience of listening to the episode on the aviation industry, and the male-oriented practices existing therein. It made us immediately reflect on such ‘success narratives’ in our own profession. We remembered figures from the aviation industry episode indicating that ‘currently, only 6% of female pilots can rely on a caregiver at home, in comparison to 50% of their male counterparts’ and realized that a similarly small number of female academics can rely on a caregiver at home to enact and follow some of academia’s practices of success. Such connections between the podcast messages and people’s own lives are further supported by the ongoing and long-term character of many podcasts. Unlike a book or movie that is always a finished product by the time of consumption, podcasts are ongoing and develop over time. The ongoing nature of The Fix reflects the idea that the practice of gender equality is continuously shaped by us, prompting us to reflect on our own profession as well as our own actions.
Concluding Remarks
Our examination of The Fix podcast through a practice-theoretical lens suggests that the process of fixing the system means immersing ourselves in the practice of gender equality. Practising gender equality may be unpleasant and uncomfortable, yet it is highly consequential (Feldman & Orlikowski, 2011). Not only are we required to question and change our own actions, we also need to take a stance and create awareness by questioning visible and hidden practices (Feldman & Pentland, 2022). Podcasts are powerful to open up new spaces for research, and we suggest that organization scholars should consider them as data in their studies. As a genre of immersion, they are ‘an indirect way of “being there”’ (Rouleau, 2024, p. 486) that enable us to question practices that we otherwise take for granted and consider mundane. We conclude that our review of The Fix reveals how gender equality and other issues of societal concern are ongoing and enacted by actors and their actions, and similar to the podcast itself, practices that are always in the making.
