Annual Heather Hopfl CWOS Seminar on Gender Culture and Organisation

Seminar abstract

In the spirit and ethos of Heather, this seminar will seek to explore one of the concerns of ageing and organising that began through discussion with Heather when Professor Riach worked at the University of Essex back in 2008: How we witness ageing at work.

Specifically Professor Riach will draw on Fisher's account of de Beauvoir to explore ageing at work as the 'other-in-us', and how processes of witnessing are inherent in how we experience age and becoming older at work.

Drawing on a 10 year study of ageing in the financial services, she suggests that in starting from a position of other-in-us, we can understand how witnessing not only provides opportunity to explore the realms of recognition and imagination (and their limits) surrounding becoming and being older within an organisation but also how these are experienced within the context of organisational processes systems.

Booking

This event is free to attend and there is no need to book in advance. The seminar will be held online via zoom. Please contact the event organiser for more details.

Speaker Bio

Professor Kathleen Riach is a professor at the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow.

Her work mainly focuses on ageing at work and the experience of growing older in and around the labour market, with a particular interest in bodies, gender and identity.

Professor Riach's work has included a longitudinal study of ageing in the UK financial services (2010-2020).

Her work also includes an interdisciplinary study on menopause and work, where alongside colleagues from Australia, she launched MIPO (Menopause Information Pack for Organisations), a free, open access suite of resources to help managers introduce and embed best practice menopause support in the workplace.

Kathleen's work has recently appeared in journals such as;

• Human Resources
• Organisation Studies and Sociology

Her work has also been featured in media and policy platforms across Australia, the UK and the US.