I’ve got a Gal in Kalamazoo: Rotary International, change and the outsourcing of gender

SummaryOver approximately the past four decades, women have entered organizations that traditionally were male bastions. Usually, the appearance of women is gradual over a period of time. This paper presents the case of an almost instantaneous change in organizational gender composition and explores the gendered nature of the organization twenty years after the “disruption.” We examine the effects of the admittance of women on the gendered nature of Rotary International's North American organization. The iterative effects on and of the organizational culture are explored through textual analysis of The Rotarian, the North American RI magazine. We argue that, although the gender order is disrupted on the surface, the gendering is ultimately maintained in the organization through an outsourcing of gender.

► We examine the entrance of women to Rotary International and the gender order of the organization. ► Drawing on critical discourse analysis we explore The Rotarian, the RI magazine for North America. ► Gender order is disrupted on the surface, but is maintained through an outsourcing of gender.