Gender, organization and science. A comparative case study of research organizations

This paper analyses gendering processes in research organizations. The focu s is on the gender subtext of organizations. How do organizational structur al arrangements and negotiation processes generate gender relations? How ar e these arrangements interrelated with the individual qualification and mot ivation of scientific personnel? Which impact do they have on career chance s of men and women? The most striking results of our comparative case study of three research organizations of the ,,Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfri ed Wilhelm Leibniz" (WGL) is the misfit between organizational conditions, career tracks and individual career aspirations. Both, men and women, face this misfit, which nevertheless is heavily gendered. The analysis of the in terplay of organizational micro-politics highlights these gendering process es. Especially lack of individual power of defining the relationship of occ upational and the so-called private sphere reproduces disadvantages of wome n. Heterogeneous research arrangements and diverse organizational demands f acilitate gender equality.