Published: July 2008 in Management Online REview, www.morexpertise.com ISSN 1996-3300 1 Copyright © Oxford Management Publishing 2008 Organizations, Art and Gender Päivi Eriksson, Elina Henttonen, Susan Meriläinen Abstract In their search for alternative images and vocabularies organization theorists are using art as a source of inspiration to understand what organizations and organizing are all about. We join the researchers who claim that there is potential in art-inspired organizational research to produce new knowledge and social change. However, we also argue that uncritical use of art brings about little social change, and instead, reproduces non-equalizing practices both in organization and art research. To illustrate our point we reread one piece of research, which uses constructivist art as an analogy for social networks to initiate discussion about organizations, art and gender. Keywords: Organization research, Constructivist art, Gender, Social networks, Social change. Introduction In their search for alternative frameworks, images and vocabularies, organization theorists have taken in ideas from the field of arts. In particular, various art forms have been used as sources of inspiration to understand what organizations and organizing are all about. Accordingly, music (e.g. Hatch, 1997, 1999; Kamoche & Pina e Cunha, 2001; Pavlovich, 2003), theatre (e.g. Boje, 1995, 2002; Kanter, 2002), literature (e.g. Czarniawska-Joerges & Guillet de Monthoux, 1994; Czarniawska, 1999), as well as visual culture and photography (e.g. Strati, 1997, 2000) have been used to provide analogies or metaphors for studying and understanding various aspects of organizational life. This stream of research argues that art provides an alternative line of thought through which we can visualize, narrate, listen to, and study organizations as aesthetic, creative, dynamic and improvised. However, it can still be asked what kind of difference does art-inspired organization research actually make compared to the established knowledge on organizations. What is different and new, and what is not? In this article, we join the researchers who claim that there is potential in art-inspired organizational research to produce new knowledge and social change. However, we also argue that, in light of what we already know about organizations, part of this potential will be wasted if art inspired organizational research does not pay attention to social differences such as class, gender, race and ethnicity. Over the years, several authors have criticized organization theorists for their tendency to reproduce patriarchal and masculine practices and representations of organizational life, which leave gender and other social differences non-problematized. As a result, these