“Tea girl and garden boy” bankers: exploring substantive equality in bankers’ narratives

• Date: 20 May 2019
• Published date: 20 May 2019
• Pages: 402-416
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-07-2017-0148
• Author: Hugo Canham
• Subject Matter: Hr & organizational behaviour

“Tea girl and garden boy”

bankers: exploring substantive

equality in bankers’narratives

Hugo Canham

Department of Psychology, School of Human and Community Development,

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to explore what narratives of inequality tell us about societal

inequality both inside and outside of workplaces. It illuminates the intertwined fates of social agents and the

productive potential of seeing organisational actors as social beings in order to advance resistance and

substantive equality.

Design/methodology/approach –This research empirically examines narratives of inequality and

substantive empowerment among a group of 25 black bankers within a major bank i n Johannesburg,

South Africa. Data were gathered through one-on-one interviews. The data were analysed using narrative analysis.

Findings –The findings indicate that narratives of organisational agents always contain fragments of

personal and societal narratives. An intersectional lens of how people experience inequality allows us to work

towards a more substantive kind of equality. Substantive equality of organisational actors is closely tied to

the recognition and elimination of broader societal inequality.

Research limitations/implications –The implications for teaching and research are for scholars to

methodically centre t he continuities bet ween the personal, org anisational and soci etal in ways that

highlight the product ive tensions and possi bilities for a more radi cal form of equality. M oreover,

teaching, research an d policy interventio ns should always foregr ound how the present com es to be

constituted histor ically.

Practical implications –Policy and inclusivity interventionswould be better served by using substantive

empowermentas a theoretical base for deeperchanges beyond what we currentlyconceive of as empowerment.

At base, this requires policy makers and diversity practitioners to see all oppression and inequality as

interconnected.Individuals are simultaneously organisational beingsand societal agents.

Social implications –Third world approaches to diversity and inclusion need to be vigilant against

globalised western notions of equity that are not contextually and historically informed. The failure of equity

initiatives in SA means that alternative ideas and approaches are necessary.

Originality/value –The paper illustrates how individual narratives become social scripts of resistance. It

develops a way for attaining substantive empowerment through the use of narrative approaches. It allows us

to see that employees are also social agents.

Keywords Social, Inclusion, Inequality, Bankers, Narrative leakages, Substantive equality

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

This study explores how employee narratives about their experiences of inequality can shed

light on broader social inequality. It extends Hawkins and Saleem’s (2012) finding that

personal narratives are omnip resent within societal narrat ives. This is done by

demonstrating that social and personal narratives are co-constitutive. Individual

narratives shed light on societal narratives, and societal narratives inform the personal.

The relationship between different levels of narratives is complex and not unidirectional. In

this instance, the paper argues that systemic forces perpetuate inequality. Figure 1 by

Hawkins and Saleem (2012) illustrates the intersecting nature of the personal narrative,

organisational narratives and societal narratives within the storytelling context. Hawkins

and Saleem (2012) make the point that “embedded within an individual’s personal narratives

are organisational and societal narratives”(p. 210). There are therefore interrelated points of

interest: systemic enablers of societal inequality and everyday experiences of inequality

within a Johannesburg headquarters of a major bank. The research problem that guides this

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 38 No. 4, 2019

pp. 402-416

© Emerald PublishingLimited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-07-2017-0148

Received 18 July 2017

Revised 16 October 2017

12 March 2018

24 May 2018

Accepted 18 June 2018

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/2040-7149.htm

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EDI

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