Men in focus - exploring homosocial cultures in organizations and developing methods to prevent sexual harassment

Funded by: FORTE
Time period: 2021-2027
Project contact persons:

Annika Vänje (Dalarna University)

Background:

Sexual harassment in organizatons (SH) remains a widespread and serious problem. Taken together, SH has negative consequences for organizations such as absenteeism, higher levels of turnover and reduced labor productivity. SH appears to be more common in organizational contexts that are characterized by male-dominance. It is argued that it is in these contexts that SH is more tolerated as a result of homosocial cultures that create a space where discrimination, harassment, and SH is accepted and sometimes even encouraged.

In this program we explore homosocial cultures in male-dominated organizations in order to contribute to our understanding of the dynamics of sexual harrassment and to develop measures and methods for transforming homosocial cultures into spaces where men in different positions can act as change agents in order to promote gender equality and workplaces free from violence and discrimination. This answers to calls for deepened understanding of processes by which SH is normalized and tolerated in organizational contexts and for improved prevention measures and methods. The aim of the program is therefore two-fold:

1. The first aim is to further explore homosocial cultures in empirical studies in a number of different contexts to contribute to developing our understanding of the dynamics of SH.
2. The second aim is to develop knowledge on measures and methods that transform homosocial cultures into spaces where men in different positions can act as change agents through an action-research oriented project.

By focusing on men, masculinities and homosociality in relation to aspects of organizational cultures that enable men to exercise violence in order to maintain control in organizations, and by developing measures and methods for counteracting SH through organizational development, the program contributes to current research frontiers as well as to the development of new practices in organizational change management.