Material bodies as taboo at work: New perspectives on the marginalizing of senior women in organizations

This paper contributes new perspectives to studies on women in management, proposing the concept of the ‘maternal’ (or reproductive) female body as a different explanation for why women are underrepresented at high levels in organizations. It argues that assessments of capability among senior women may focus primarily on their potential (or actual) maternity, rather than on performance. Resultantly, such women are often excluded from prestigious assignments.
First, the paper observes hidden tendencies, within higher echelons at work, to classify maternal bodies as ‘taboo’. Drawing upon the work of anthropologist Mary Douglas, the paper notes how maternal bodies among senior women may be identified as ‘social pollutants’; a danger to productivity (Douglas, 1966). While workplace discomfitures with ‘maternal’ bodies are heighted during pregnancy and new maternity, menstruation and menopause also provoke anxiety.
Second, the paper suggests how the marginalizing of senior women relates to medicalization of maternal bodies, which are described as governed by fluctuating hormones throughout and beyond the reproductive years. Such medical descriptions spill over into organizational contexts, and senior women are treated as lacking competency to make rational judgements.
The paper suggests that further research is required to explore deeply-ingrained attitudes which associate maternal bodies with lowered cognition.