Marjolein Dennissen

101 Diversity killjoys? is the essence of management and the aim is to further gender equality in the organization by addressing the recruitment and selection and career development of women to higher management positions. The event takes place in the late afternoon and lasts 1,5 hours with drinks afterwards. Approximately 140 women and 20 men are attending. The event starts with two speeches of women speakers, and ends with a panel discussion between one of the women speakers (and member of the board of directors) and two men (both directors of departments within Finance). The first speaker is a member of the board of directors. In her speech, she emphasizes the importance of quotas: “Diversity is easier when you attach percentages to it. We want 20% women in the top of the organization, 25% in the subtop”. The second speaker is a former Dutch politician and chair of an organization that supports other organizations in their diversity management. In her speech, she asserts that women need to speak up more: “Men want to be eligible for something, women want to discuss it first at home. Women have to express themselves more.” She presents an example of another organization: “Women [in this organization] are challenged tomake a plan themselves. And I think that they [the organization] put the responsibility where it belongs: with the individual; with the woman herself.” The last part of the event consists of a panel discussion. During the panel discussion, there is also interaction with the audience. One of the comments from the audience: “Vacancy texts should be written differently”. The external convener that leads the panel discussion places a remark now and then. She for example states: “Women are being judged on their track record; men are being judged on their potential”. Also a workshop on the awareness of gender bias and stereotypes is suggested. The member of the board of directors reacts with: “You are never going to find the sheep with the five legs 2 ; they just do not exist. I myself was by far [sic] the sheep when I was asked [for the board of directors]. But I jumped into the deep.” [Observation women’s networks - Finance] This instance shows that attendees receive ambiguous messages. During the first part of the event, the speakers draw on a neoliberalist rhetoric of individual empowerment and choice: women themselves are responsible for their own career advancement. For example, women are compared to men and “need to speak up more”. Women would allegedly lack visibility and some speakers emphasize the individual responsibility for women to become visible. Men are portrayed as explicit about their ambitions, whereas women would be more reluctant and doubtful (cf. Van den Brink & Benschop, 2014). Herewith, male models of career success and achievement are taken for granted and implicitly serve as the norm for all employees (Acker, 1990; Meyerson & Kolb, 2000). Also, these speakers draw on an underlying assumption of meritocracy: promotions are based solely according to individual performance or talent and 2 A sheep with five legs is a Dutch idiom meaning an impossible combination of ideal competencies.