5

of 100 signatures

To Michael O'Riordan

This is a mass resignation letter to express our deep concerns about the changes that are happening at the journal.

Open letter text

March 2024

Dear Editors in Chief and publishers of GWO,

We, the undersigned, are writing to tender our immediate resignations as Associate Editors, members of the Distinguished Advisory Board, members of the Editorial Review Board and reviewers for Gender, Work and Organization.

We note with profound sorrow how events have unfolded over the last few months at GWO. While there have been longstanding concerns over the limited resourcing of the journal and lowering of quality standards, Wiley’s new and unannounced strategy of mainstreaming this world class interdisciplinary journal during its 30th anniversary year has left us with no choice but to walk away from the journal to secure the quality and impact of gender scholarship.

We no longer identify with the aims, scope or undemocratic practices and processes underpinning the journal, and we have no trust that the current governance is aligned with the values of our inclusive, feminist community. Furthermore, the process for recruiting the new editors in chief (all mainstream business academics with expertise in marketing and entrepreneurship) was not appropriate, consistent or transparent, nor are we confident that Wiley’s new strategy will be beneficial for the journal itself and its international readership.

In particular, one outcome of this process was the arbitrary creation of the role of the conference lead, which was never advertised and is entirely inappropriate since Wiley does not have proprietary rights over the conference. We were also dismayed that several shortlisted candidates were never contacted afterwards about the decision. Please note that this is not an ad hominem attack on the new editors, which we gather has been one of the interpretations presented in your meetings with the Associate Editors (AEs). Instead, it is a deep concern that the process was flawed in the extreme and excluded the community that sustains the journal with its free labour.

The meetings that were held with the AEs on the 29th of February were very problematic in their own right with some AEs leaving early in protest. There, unfounded accusations were levelled at AEs, and considerable misinformation was presented – for example, that the board lacks expertise in masculinities, technology and Indigenous knowledge as well as representation from the Global South. As you are aware, three members of the board have already resigned, all experts in Southern theories. Our request for the Wiley publishers to meet with the Distinguished Advisory Board (DAB), as well as the Associate Editor Board (AEB) and the Editorial Review Board (ERB), only received a response after several weeks which we take as a delaying tactic to ensure the top-down recruitment process was achieved. After the meetings with the AEB we conclude that the new editors and Wiley are not interested in the work we do as a scholarly community as demonstrated by your inability to listen to our expertise and experience.

It is clear to us that the journal is moving away from its long-established critical gender and feminist roots – the AEs amongst us have been receiving papers to process that do not fit the aims and scope of the journal, and papers rooted in our critical heritage are being routinely desk rejected. It is evident that the journal is interested in high-volume, low-quality and mainstream management papers.

Moreover, we will no longer be submitting papers to the journal or accepting invitations to review for it; and we will be sharing this letter with our wider scholarly communities so that they are well informed of these changes, as well as to encourage them to think about supporting our concerns which may include withdrawing papers that they currently have under consideration with the journal.

We will not continue to provide free labour and feminist scholarship to this journal in these very problematic circumstances. Since the journal’s founding in 1994, it has grown to become the home for academics engaged in a wide range of gender and diversity research, especially by established and emerging scholars examining social and organizational problems from critical, feminist, queer and Global South perspectives. Wiley’s recent actions are sabotaging 30 years of world class scholarship and the collective work of a community which has stood against oppression, injustice and discrimination for just as long. As the number 1 Women’s Studies journal, Wiley’s directive is a violent attack on the community.

To continue our scholarship and our struggle we will be establishing a new home for our community and celebrating 30 years of critical gender, work and organization studies.

This letter is for information purposes only, a response is not expected.

Yours sincerely,

Jo Brewis, The Open University, DAB member, previous Associate Editor, author and reviewer

Mie Plotnikof, Aarhus University, Associate Editor of ‘Feminist Origins’ section, author and reviewer

Torkild Thanem, Stockholm University, DAB member and previous Associate Editor, author and reviewer

Emmanouela Mandalaki, NEOMA Business School, Feminist Frontiers Co-Editor, author and reviewer

Yvonne Benschop, Radboud University, DAB member, previous Associate Editor, author and reviewer

Alison Pullen, Macquarie University, Ex-Editor-in-Chief, previous Associate Editor, author and reviewer

Nela Smolovic Jones, Associate Editor, author and reviewer

Sara Louise Muhr, Copenhagen Business School, Associate Editor, author and reviewer

Melissa Tyler, University of Essex, DAB member, previous Associate Editor, author, reviewer and Co-Chair of the Judith Butler GWO study group

Marianna Fotaki, University of Warwick, DAB member, previous Associate Editor, author, and reviewer

Alice Wickström, School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Feminist Frontiers Co-Editor, author and reviewer

Jeff Hearn, Hanken School of Economics, Finland; Örebro University, Sweden; University of Huddersfield, UK, DAB member, previous Associate Editor, author and reviewer

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