25 Years On: Reflecting on the Past and Looking to the Future in Gender and Management Research

Abstract

This paper celebrates the progress that has been made in gender and management research over the last 25 years and outlines some current challenges faced. The British Journal of Management has disseminated many of the key debates, from empirical and theoretical work, that have helped to both frame and reflect developments in the field – and this paper charts some of this diverse terrain. Challenges include current conceptualizations that gender issues have been ‘solved’ with a tendency towards ‘gender denial’ in understandings of work based disadvantage. Future areas of research are identified including the need to continue to monitor and publicize gender difference; to clarify and conceptualize emerging gendered hierarchies and new forms of gendered power; and to reveal hidden, gendered practices and processes currently concealed within norms, customs and values.