Gender issues

Sauder School of Business Mascot, Wally the Bull Since asking whether Arvind Gupta lost the masculinity contest at UBC , many have weighed in to consider whether such a contest occurred in Gupta's case. No one has rejected the idea that such contests occur in leadership, however, and much of the fallout from this post has revealed how they do at UBC. In my post I gave general examples of masculinity contests and organizational cultures that support them, and I vaguely referred to “UBC leadership,” in order to avoid airing specific dirty laundry I’d witnessed in my first year at UBC. But others, some unwittingly, have rushed to provide examples and identify leadership. From a personal standpoint this has sometimes been troubling; from a research standpoint it has been fascinating. My post and its fallout have amounted to a form of action research, shedding light on how the masculinity contest plays out in others’ minds. Like a Rorschach test , reactions to the post were more diagnos

I was recruited to the University of British Columbia last year with a mandate to help organizations advance gender and diversity in leadership . I interpreted this to also mean UBC, which is lacking in gender and diversity in its leadership. For example, at its Vancouver campus, 11 of the 12 deans are white and 10 are men. * As someone who studies a controversial subject, it is inevitable that some of the things I have to say will upset some people, perhaps especially those who have risen to power in current systems. But as a faculty member I have always felt safe, and indeed obligated, to exercise my right to academic free speech. A week ago today I received a phone call from the Chair of the UBC Board of Governors, John Montalbano, who also happens to be on the Faculty Advisory Board of the Sauder School of Business and the donor of the money for my Professorship within it. His purpose in calling was to tell me that my blog post from the day before was "incredibly hurtful, i

In the past week, since reflecting on this blog  about whether the departure of UBC President Arvind Gupta was due in part to his losing the “ masculinity contest ” among the institution’s leadership, I have witnessed the “body count” version of diversity used to defend an individual’s or group’s diversity credentials.* It is true that the numbers of women, minorities, and other underrepresented groups in an organization and among its leadership are important. But the path to those numbers, and their sustainability, is even more important. Body count diversity emphasizes optics over process. It is usually possible to find people of the right color, sex, or other identities to make the numbers look good. But body count diversity stops there and treats those individuals as window dressing, mouthpieces, or good soldiers willing to go along in exchange for synthetic inclusion . The “ fix the women ” version of gender diversity efforts reflects this, training women to act like men in order

As a conference of interdisciplinary scholars studying  Work as a Masculinity Contest came to an end today, the resignation of Arvind Gupta as UBC’s president after a year in office was announced . I do not claim to know the ins and outs of this unfortunate outcome. UBC either failed in selecting, or in supporting, him as president. But what I do have are my personal observations and experiences after my first year here as the inaugural Montalbano Professor of Leadership Studies: Gender and Diversity. I believe that part of this outcome is that Arvind Gupta lost the masculinity contest among the leadership at UBC, as most women and minorities do at institutions dominated by white men. President Gupta was the first brown man to be UBC president. He isn't tall or physically imposing. He advocates for women and visible minorities in leadership – a stance that has been empirically demonstrated to hurt men at work. I had the pleasure of speaking with him on this topic to UBC alumni in