The construction of gender identities in public sector organisations in Latin America

Abstract

PurposeLiterature on “gender and organisation” in developing countries is scarce. The purpose of this paper is to unveil the way in which gender construction is understood and operates within public organisational settings in the Dominican Republic.Design/methodology/approachSemi‐structured interviews were conducted with 27 women and 13 men from three organisations in the public sector in the Dominican Republic. The research was developed using a feminist poststructuralist methodological framework and used discourse analysis.FindingsGender construction and dynamics in the Dominican public sector reproduce paternalistic assumptions and beliefs. Organisational culture operates as a gendered system where sexualised structures and processes perpetuate ideas about male superiority and female inferiority, which translate in expectations of men being dominant and women being submissive.Research limitations/implicationsThe experience of a group of employees from three public institutions cannot generalise the whole of the public sector all around the country. More importantly, it cannot be assumed to represent all feminist voices from developing countries.Practical implicationsThe implications of this research are significant both for gender sensitive employment public policy reform and human resource management practices in the public sector.Originality/valueThe research focused on how gender is articulated in organisational culture, situating this problematisation in the public sector in the Dominican Republic. The paper contributes to the limited knowledge of gender and organisation in the Hispanic Caribbean, particularly the Dominican Republic.