The (Re)production of Gender Inequality in Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry: A Gendered Organization Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24256/ideas.v14i2.10981Keywords:
gender Inequality, gendered organization, inequality reproduction, lessons in chemistryAbstract
Although previous studies on Bonnie Garmus's Lessons in Chemistry have primarily examined the novel through feminist perspectives, limited attention has been given to how organizational structures systematically construct and reproduce gender inequality. This study examines Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry through Joan Acker’s theory of gendered organization and inequality regimes to identify how gender inequality is constructed, maintained, and reproduced within organizational contexts. Using a qualitative descriptive design, with Lessons in Chemistry (2022) as the primary data source, this study adopts a socio-organizational perspective, which differs from previous studies that mainly focused on feminist approaches. Findings reveal that gender inequality is not rooted in individual actions but in a self-reinforcing organizational system. This inequality is represented through five interconnected dimensions of gendered organization: division of labor, symbolic representation, workplace interaction, identity formation, and organizational logic. Together, these dimensions demonstrate how organizational structures sustain male dominance while maintaining the appearance of meritocracy. This process operates on multiple levels, such as labeling women domestically, disregarding their contributions, excluding them from authority positions, and seeing men as the only ideal workers. Further analysis of inequality regimes reveals that this inequality is perpetuated through an interlocking mechanism. Naturalized through long-standing social norms and supported by biased daily organizational practices, it becomes a system that appears normal and difficult to change. Although several forms of women’s resistance are portrayed in the novel, such resistance tends to be largely individual and limited in its capacity to disrupt patriarchal structures and broader organizational inequalities. By integrating literary criticism with organizational sociology, this study extends the application of Joan Acker’s framework to literary analysis while demonstrating how literary narratives can illuminate structural mechanisms of gender inequality in organizational contexts.
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