Women managers and the gendered construction of personal relationships

This article explores the complex interactions among gender, power, and des ire in the construction of personal relationships among a group of 92 femal e managers. The participants inhabited senior and middle managerial or prof essional positions in five different work sectors. The data were collected through in-depth interviews and a written questionnaire. Experiences and pe rceptions of past and current personal relationships are explored and inter preted through a gender analysis. The interaction between managerial career s and relationships in the private sphere are examined, and the connection between power and social/ sexual desirability is investigated. Major conclu sions drawn include that the structure of desire is resistant to change. th at gendered marital expectations are still influencing the way that marital relationships are lived out that new constructions of personal relationshi ps are more likely to be played out in new relationships, and that the link between social/sexual desirability and power is gendered.