Moving forward with Gender, Work and Organization

As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Gender, Work and Organization (GWO), we are excited to welcome our readers to a new chapter of the journal. With a new leadership team of three Editors-in-Chief at the helm, we are poised to build upon the strong foundation laid by a line of distinguished scholars who have served as Editors-in-Chief, each leaving an indelible mark on the journal's trajectory and shaping its development in unique and significant ways. We extend our sincere gratitude to previous Editors-in-Chief and editorial teams, including the outgoing editors, Banu Ozkazanc-Pan and Alison Pullen, for their dedication and leadership, which has been instrumental in elevating GWO to its current quality levels. We are looking forward to building on the work of the many contributors to date, and we intend to continue pushing GWO to new heights. Following the standard Wiley appointment process, there was a disruption at the journal that resulted in an almost complete board walkout and resignation of many reviewers from around the world. This event, the second of its kind since 2015 in GWO, brought a lot of uncertainty to the authors, readers, and supporters of the journal, and necessitated an (almost) full board reshuffle. Change often brings both challenges and opportunities, and Gender, Work and Organization is no exception to this dynamic. As part of our ongoing development, we are pleased to announce a significant renewal of our Editorial Review Board and Associate Editor Board. We have been fortunate to attract a diverse and distinguished group of scholars who have enthusiastically agreed to contribute their expertise in shaping the journal's future direction and management. Among these, "old (GWO) hands" have re-joined the Board(s), as well as others from distinct contexts, specializations, and backgrounds. Leveraging these wide-ranging experiences and skills, we intend to encourage submissions related to a broad base of issues related to Gender, Work and Organization. When we took over as EIC's in January 2024, the editorial center revealed a backlog of papers and (too) many special issues proceeding through the review and publication process too slowly―which has had a negative impact on our journal stats. When we got access to the Editorial System at the end of January and there were 110+ papers in the system which required decisions just at the desk level; moreover, there were papers backlogged at different review stages, some papers had been under review way beyond the standard timeline. The "submission to first review" time was 56 days in 2023, and the submission to publication was 370 days―we are already on track to reduce those numbers significantly. The submission to publication times are a top priority for us. To this end, we three and our Associate Editors are very focused on regular and timely interaction with submissions to the journal and following up their progress through the system frequently. Current submissions are up by 20% compared with the same period in 2023, and our acceptance rate is 11%, which is consistent with expectations and standards for this level of journal. The journal retains its indexed position as an ABDC A, ABS 3, and Scopus Q1, and its focus―just as stated in the original editorial by David Knights and Jill Aubery in 1994―is to provide a truly "international forum for inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary analysis…dedicated to advancing theory…aiming to publish contributions from a variety of disciplinary perspectives including anthropology, history, labor economics, law, philosophy, politics, psychology, sociology." As highlighted in the 2018 Editorial, we also plan to pursue the lead given by Banu Ozkazanc-Pan in expanding the journal's scope into non-hegemonic/western perspectives on gender theory, lived experiences, and social formats. Thinking beyond universalized labels such as patriarchal, to deep dive into these expression as discussed in the seminal work by Walby (1990), who identifies six types of patriarchy―paid work, housework, culture, sexuality, violence, and the state―with patriarchy "evolving" from an individual man dominant in his family to a more "public" patriarchy where men have a collective (male-privileged) authority in many contexts. Importantly, Walby insists that the exact nature of patriarchy remains local to its setting and, as such, these variations of patriarchies, feminisms, masculinities, and gendered societal organizations are critical to the development of the field. We would like to encourage submissions from all authors, including those who may shy away from expressions such as feminism, which are loaded in many parts of the world, and encourage discussions and criticisms of gender (in)justice in broad and variously contextualized forms, in order to add to the literature in ways that are less visible, less considered, less interrogated―a position which GWO is organically perfect for. There continues to be a world of writing needed to address the post-feminist assumptions of (particularly) developed societies, which, by denying the collectivist struggle, obfuscate the societal and structural causes of gender inequalities and so entrap women in systems of ongoing subordination and "deficiency." The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted this for all of us, all across the globe. We invite further research that explores the spectrum of queer experiences in the workplace, as well as the diverse expressions of masculinities and femininities, and the broader gender order. This work is essential to deepen our understanding and foster inclusivity across all organizational contexts. Continuing the "writing differently" interest of the journal, we would like to expand this further to incorporate disparate and diverse methodologies―as well as encouraging quantitative empirical papers, to complement the qualitative work the journal is known for. We will look to publish essays, viewpoints, and practitioner collaborations as well, in an effort to holistically embrace diverse approaches to the consideration of GWO. Similarly, the Book Reviews section will continue under the Editorship of Melissa Langworthy, and she should be contacted with offers of books to review, as well as offers to review books. To contribute to the solid governance of the journal, we will be encouraging subject development leadership from members of the Boards in an effort to both build capacity and establish emerging areas of research from which network clusters and Special Issues could result. The revival of the "Commentary" section, from the earliest issues of the journal, will be solicited from leading theoretical and practitioner scholars, in order to give the journal a direction and allow the infusion of fresh and varied viewpoints to be aired as the journal continues to evolve. We have also developed a strategic plan, including provision for succession, to ensure there is widespread and strong commitment and capacity to lead the journal into the future beyond the three of us in the form of both our Associate Editors Board, and a mentored Early Career Fellows Board. The GWO 2025 Conference will take place from July 20th to 23rd, 2025 in Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France. The theme of this conference will be "World in Crisis and Future of Work: Gender, Work and Organization and People on the Move." The upcoming conference, jointly led by our own Prof. Natalia Vershinina and her colleague Prof. Yuliya Shymko from Audencia Business School, is set to begin accepting proposals for conference tracks. Once finalized, comprehensive details about the event will be widely circulated. We enthusiastically invite everyone to submit their most rigorous and interesting work to our conference in Nantes next summer, where we will work with doctoral scholars, and continue to foster critical discussions on emerging issues in gender studies, explore the intricate dynamics of gender relations, and examine the organization of gender and its manifestation within organizational contexts. In closing, we are very grateful for the level of support we have received in these early months of our tenure, and to all the people who have reached out with support in terms of joining our Boards, offering to undertake even extra reviewing tasks, and providing their strategic and historical insights. We are so happy to welcome the new GWO Board members, as well as authors and reviewers with whom we have had the pleasure of meeting over many, many zoom calls and face to face, as well as via intensive email exchanges over these first months. We remain dedicated to the core research streams, themes, and interests that have long defined GWO. Our scope and aims continue to be a guiding light for the journal. We warmly invite all authors to submit their work, confident in the knowledge that GWO remains their intellectual home, providing a welcoming and supportive platform for their research. Bronwyn P. Wood (Aisha) is an Associate Professor of Marketing at United Arab Emirates University in the UAE. She is originally from Aotearoa New Zealand (Pakeha + Ngāti Kahungunu), although she has lived abroad for around 20 years, mainly in Japan and the Arabian Gulf (Saudi, Oman, UAE). Bronwyn was, until recently, an Associate Editor and then Interim Editor in Chief, of the International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship. She is also a Senior Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Islamic Marketing, and an Associate Editor at the International Journal of Islamic Marketing and Branding. In addition to editorial experience, she is an active reviewer and engaged in supporting other researchers in their scholarly journeys. She serves as a Mentor in the MENA-GEN programme, supported by Babson and run through the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship's (ISBE, UK) Gender Special Interest Group. Bronwyn is especially interested in indigeneity, gender, intersectionality and (particularly) women's experiences as they navigate through life. This necessitates a wide-ranging approach to research which encourages perceptual and epistemological discussions of meaning and well-being, with social justice at its heart. She has also published as Aisha Wood Boulanouar. Natalia Vershinina is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Deputy Director for Research at Audencia Business School in Nantes, one of the top Grande Ecoles in France. Natalia is an experienced researcher, teacher, PhD supervisor and journal editor. Her research cuts across diverse but complementary areas of entrepreneurship, diversity, gender, family firms, ethnicity, and social class. She actively contributes to the development of younger scholars by serving as a Mentor Associate Editor for Early Career Researchers who have won awards at conferences such as the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Conference in the UK, and the Research in Entrepreneurship Conference organized by the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management in Entrepreneurship American University of Beirut, Lebanon; Royal University for Women, Bahrain, and most recently, American University of Bulgaria. Her leadership posts in higher education include senior university roles, such as Head of Academic Programs in Entrepreneurship, Associate Dean for Research, and Dean of the Business and Law Faculty. Bettina earned her PhD in Management from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne.