Keeping up gendered appearances: representations of gender in financial annual reports

Abstract

This study analyses representations of gender in the financial annual reports of 30 corporations. Building on several critical theoretical perspectives, it examines how annual reports contribute to the gendering of organisations through an empirical study of representations of gender in their texts, statistics and images. The results suggest that stereotypical images are dominant and the representational practices reinforce the traditional gendered division of labour. We conclude that the masculine connotation of financial reports thwarts a more diverse representation of gender in organisations.