YCC: a gendered carnival? Project work at Volvo Cars

Abstract

Purpose To discusss the first concept car development project in the automotive industry managed by female engineers and designers. Design/methodology/approach An abiding concern in feminist discourses is to understand how and why women are excluded from certain positions and activities and how organizations become gendered. Drawing on the Russian literature theorist Mikhail Bakhtin, exceptional events such as concept car development projects in the automotive industry may be examined as a form of carnival wherein the predominant social order is overturned for a period of time and thereafter restored. Findings Exploring the “all female” project at Volvo Cars as a carnival event captures the double nature of such “affirmative” activities; on the one hand, they are giving space to marginal groups, while, on the other hand, being events that differ from the everyday work life order, they therefore risk being marginal activities with limited sustaining impact. Originality/value In theoretical terms, the paper has integrated feminist theory and Bakhtin's writing on the carnival as an institutionalized way to mediate conflict and discontent.