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Monica Wirz BA, BSc, AssocDip, MBA, MSc, MPhil

PhD Candidate

Main research interests: critical management theories; power and leadership theories; gender theories of performativity, subjectivity and epistemology; discourses on women in business and corporate diversity; organisational ethnography and feminist methodologies; social justice through corporate social responsibility and the labour market practices.

Biography

25 years of international corporate experience comprising secondments in Germany, UK and Brazil; regional coordination in Latin America. Solid track record in a wide range of Marketing disciplines in varied industries, among these: FMCG, media, management consultancy and business start-ups. Main skills developed in the areas of strategic planning, brand management, product development, marketing research, e-commerce and new business development. The professional experience in the field of management and leadership has evolved into my interest in investigating the relationship between theory and praxis in the context of gendered embodiment.

Career

  • Cluetrain Consultancy – Partner. Management & Marketing Consultant
  • Crown Business Communications – Amey plc – Head of Research and Planning
  • BAT – British American Tobacco – Head of Market Information and Strategic Planning
  • Southwest Airlines – MBA Consultancy (Dissertation Project)
  • Wella – Group Brand Manager, Head of Strategic Planning, Latin America's Area Co-ordinator –Brazil, Germany, Latin America
  • Gillette – Brand Management Trainee
  • Petrobrás Energy - International Relations Trainee

Qualifications

  • MPhil – Multidisciplinary Gender Studies (with Distinction) – Cambridge University (2009/10)
  • MSc – Gender (with Merit) – London School of Economics and Political Sciences (2005/2008)
  • MBA – Masters in Business Administration – Warwick Business School (1995/1996)
  • AssocDip – Marketing – PUC RJ (1992/1993)
  • BSc – Business Administration – Universidade Candido Mendes (1988/1991)
  • BA – English and Literature – Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (1986/1990)

Awards, fellowships and scholarships

  • Berkeley/Pembroke PhD Exchange Scholarship, Mellon Foundation, 2011
  • GEXcel Fellowship, Swedish Research Council, 2011
  • InterGender Research School Grant, Linköping University, Sweden, 2011
  • Fellowship, Cambridge Philosophical Society, University of Cambridge, 2011
  • Griffith A.V. Morgan Award, Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, 2011
  • Key Concepts and Methods in Ethnography, Language & Communication Summer Course Grant, King's College London, 2010
  • PhD Scholarship, Egon Zehnder International, 2010
  • NOISE Summer School Grant: Postcoloniality & Posthumanity, Universiteit Utrecht, Holland, 2009
  • MBA Scholarship, British Chevening Scholarship, 1995

Research

Gender parity in processes of decision-making is recognised as a topic of universal relevance for the achievement of gender equality. Not only a human right, it is also seen as a precondition for justice and democracy and as a requirement for women's interests and rights to be taken into account[1]. Nonetheless, in the UK, women represent only 12.2% of the FTSE 100 directorship[2] and it is estimated that it would take at least 66 years for gender parity at top corporate levels to materialise[3]. Given a context of well-established anti-discrimination legislation and corporate policies, the underlying reasons for the relentless dearth of women in high-status positions can be partly attributed to the inability of mainstream analytical frameworks and workplace practices to address ingrained background assumptions about 'femininity' and 'leadership'.

My doctoral thesis addresses such paradox by critically assessing conventional epistemologies and methodologies relating to gender in corporate boards and in senior executive positions. Access to this elusive audience, namely corporate elites, has been established through a research partnership agreement with one of the Top Three executive search firms in the world, Egon Zehnder International, where the empirical element of my research is taking place. In this context, particular consideration is given to the gendering of recruitment practices through its full cycle: from the corporate client's brief to the executive search firm, through the internal stages that search firms take to (de-) select potential candidates, to the final 'closing' of the case, after a candidate has been successfully hired.

The starting premise of this research is that leadership positions in high-end scientific organisations are key sites of knowledge production with a global impact on wider societal issues, which consequently must be critically interrogated as part of any attempt to achieve gender equality and to theorise social change. The close analysis of the practices within executive recruitment/selection aims to develop a more subtle understanding of the processes undermining women's potential as leaders and, ultimately, as change agents.

[1] United Nations: Inter-agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (2007) "Women in Leadership Roles" Online Discussions @ Women Watch. Retrieved on 20 August 2008 from http://www.un.org/womenwatch/forums/leadership/

[2] Sealy, R.; Vinnicombe, S. & Doldor, E. (2009) The Female FTSE Report 2009. Cranfield International Centre for Women Leaders. Cranfield School of Management

[3] Equality and Human Rights Commission (2008) Sex and Power 2008, pp: 4. Retrieved on 04 September 2008 from www.equalityhumanrights.com

Publications

Publications and media coverage

  • World Economic Forum (2010) The Corporate Gender Gap Report. Geneva: WEF – UK representative of research project; Partner Institute: LSE (2010)

  • The Way to Shatter the Glass Ceiling, The Independent, 17 October 2010

Conference papers

  • GEXcel Conference (2011) Women on Corporate Boards in the UK: The Paradox of Interventions. University of Örebro: Sweden

Websites and blogs