Individuals in organizations may engage in institutional work to disrupt institutions, including the institution of gender. Applying Connell’s theory of gender and power to institutional work allows for a deeper understanding of both the potential for, and challenges of such ‘work’. An in-depth, two-year case study of a fair trade cocoa organization presents a context where gender and power are at extremes, and work across cultural and geographic boundaries. Interviews and observations reveal that whilst individuals were first able to disrupt the gender status- quo, through valorizing and legitimizing work, resistance work then began as initial circumstances altered. Resistance takes the form of distancing, reframing and blocking further institutional change. By applying gender theory to institutional work theory the paper makes a key contribution as it considers the complicated system of gendered power relations that underlie individuals’ actions in organizations, and tempers notions of institutional change within wider ‘orders’. In doing so it enriches studies of Institutional Work and gendered organizations.