The Solidarity Ecosystem in Management: How Women Build and Represent Their Careers in Russia

Europe-Asia Studies. 2024. Vol. 76. No. 2. P. 222–246.

Rozhdestvenskaya E., Voronkova A.

Women’s business in Russia is clearly distancing itself from feminism. Paradoxically, the discourse of D&E (diversity and equality)  and , commitment to the corporate ecosystem , supports parallel opposing lines of reasoning: solidarity of women in business and mutual assistance in competing with men , on the one hand, and advocating sometimes traditional femininity in leadership, management style, and career growth on the other hand. The analyzed professional women's top careers (N = 20), represented in the media , give an idea of how media discourse is responsible for the production of meanings in society. A social group of women in top management and entrepreneurship can use conservative rhetoric while promoting the emancipatory discourse of women's career.In our opinion, the trend term ecosystem in this case also plays the role of a separate discursive system. It matures its own special inter-organizational discourse, built on the balance between the ambitions of career-building female entrepreneurs and top managers, partly the managerial culture of large corporations, and the power of traditional stereotypes. The slogan ‘Diversity and equality’ can coexist with the slogan of the women's business community described above - "Women are the new oil".

Keywords: репрезентация, representation, ecosystem, экосистема, qualitative research, качественное исследование, женская карьера, women's career

Publication based on the results of: The role of social diversity in institutional contexts: the inclusive society’s potential and challenges (2022)