Drawing on sociology and social policy, this intriguing volume considers various aspects of gender and professional identity. Contributors explore the inter-relationship between managerialism, professionalism and gender identity in Britain, and examine the processes and impacts of change on those working in public sector organizations in other countries as they come under varying managerial pressures. The subject is viewed from a variety of perspectives, including feminism and post-modernism.

With an international range of contributors, this important book brings together an array of ideas about gender and professionals and provides an important contribution to the growing debates on gender and the workplace. A significant volume for both postgraduates and professionals in the fields of management and business studies, Gender and the Public Sector provides a more sophisticated analysis of international public sector change than is currently available elsewhere.

Jim Barry is a political sociologist and Reader at the University of East London, based in the East London Business School. Current research interests include gender and managerialism in higher education as well as in the public sector more generally. He has published on gender and politics, gender and public service, gender and organisations, gender and work stress, gender and business ethics, lone parenting and employment, and gender, managerialism and higher education.
Mike Dent is Professor of Health Care Organisation, Staffordshire University. Currently his main research is the comparative study of medical and nursing work, professional and health care organisation and accountability across Europe. He also retains an interest in health care computing and information systems. He has published a number of articles on these topics as well as three books.
Maggie O'Neill is Reader in Sociology at Staffordshire University. Currently her main research interest focuses upon developing participatory action research with marginalised communities and integrating theory and praxis through renewing methodologies by the use of visual/creative methods. She continues to work on prostitution and is developing expertise in the area of forced migration through her work with refugees, asylum seekers and the organisations and agencies supporting these groups.

Introduction & Overview Part 1: Gender, Professionalism and Managerial Change in the Public Sector in Britain 1. Regendering Management: Prospects for Change 2. The Problematic Professional: gender and the transgression of 'the professional' identity 3. Ministering Angels and the Virtuous Profession: Service and Professional Identity 4. Identifying the Professional Manager: Masculinity, Professionalism and the Search for Legitimacy 5. Managing the Care?: The Management of Residential Care Homes and Professional Identity 6. On the Front Line: Experiences of Managing the New Public Services 7. Hard Nosed or Pink and Fluffy? Part 2: Case-Studies of Gender, Professionalism and Managerial Change: International Perspectives 1. Framing Ambiguity in Swedish Health Care Organisations 2. Women's Positioning in a Bureacratic Environment in Sweden: How to combine employment and mothering 3. Managing Transformation? Managers and Management in Health and Welfare Services in the New South Africa 4. The Medical Profession in France and Greece: Professional Jurisdiction, Etatism and the 'Latin Rim' 5. Gendered States: Policy and Process in Mumbai and London