The irrelevance of access: theorising gender dilemmas and livelihoods

Abstract

Arguments for improving the access of women to work and workplaces are seen as an important part of the social justice agenda or a business case for improving performance by drawing from a diverse workforce. Through our engagement with women from different work contexts, we attempt to discuss the implications of the concept of the access. We argue that the concept of access reinforces several marginalising discourses and provides legitimacy to dominant features of the employment relationship. We contend that an alternative feminist critique is necessary—one that recognises the cultural situatedness of women; the ability of culturally situated women to craft livelihoods that transcend the capitalist employment relationship; the need to dismantle the dualisms of several managerial frameworks instead of working within them; and the need to respectfully engage with feminist alternatives of organising rather than seek to render women subservient to current organisational frames.