From bread-maker to bomb-builder: (Re)constructing gender identity in the Canadian television series Bomb Girls
Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management
ISSN: 1746-5648
Article publication date: 11 September 2017
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the construction of gender identity in the Canadian television series Bomb Girls (2012-2013), which depicted the lives of women working at a munitions factory during the Second World War.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is guided by a postmodern feminist and historiographic approach to organization studies. The study involved a qualitative content analysis of the series to explore the construction of gender identity among female factory workers, given traditional social constructions of gender prominent in wartime.
Findings
In its (re)construction and (re)negotiation of gender identity, Bomb Girls told a story about women’s working lives during the Second World War that reflected themes of independence, resilience and transformation.
Research limitations/implications
This paper contends that Bomb Girls is a revisionist work of postmodern feminist history that subverts gender norms and retrospectively offers a nuanced and progressive narrative about the lives of Canadian women who entered the workforce during the Second World War.
Originality/value
This research contributes to historiographical approaches to management and organization studies by bringing a postmodern feminist historical lens to the study of women’s work in a popular culture representation. In doing so, this research responds to long-standing and widespread calls for an “historic turn” in the field as well as for research that addresses gender as a central analytical category.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author acknowledges the financial support of Mount Saint Vincent University and the contributions to data collection made by two graduate student research assistants, Genevieve MacIntyre and Lena Betker. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Sixth Asian Conference on Media and Mass Communication 2015 and printed in official conference proceedings.
Citation
Moniz, T. (2017), "From bread-maker to bomb-builder: (Re)constructing gender identity in the Canadian television series
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited