Explorations, Accountants and Verdicts—Emotions in Metaphors and Gender Equality Work

Abstract

Does gender equality work feel like a joint exploration or a restrictive verdict? Through semi‐structured interviews with managers and employees involved in organizational gender equality work in six Swedish private companies and one university, this study examines emotions in metaphors and their orientation toward organizational change. Emotions are understood as both embodied and social and are analyzed as integral components of experientially grounded metaphors. The article introduces situating metaphors as an analytic concept for examining how metaphors position speakers through emotions, local truths, and emotional orientations toward change in the organization. The analysis identifies three groups of metaphors capturing a spectrum of emotional experiences and tensions in gender equality work. First, to feel supported and curious in a joint exploration , that notices gender inequalities, was a common and highly valued emotional experience that signaled agency and hope, despite unclear goals. Second, the more ambivalent accountant metaphor conveyed emotions of hopefullness yet subordination, such as gratefullness and admiration, whereas the third verdict metaphor rendered gender equality work as a commitment imposed from above, experienced as potentially draining of hope. Metaphor use also followed gendered and organizational patterns. In organizations that valued independence and creativity, male participants more often used metaphors that conveyed the feeling that gender equality work was illegitimate and controlling. The study's metaphor analysis contributes to research on both gender equality work and emotions in organizations by advancing situating metaphors as a reflexive tool for understanding how emotions position participants in relation to hierarchy and organizational change.