152 6: Postmodern Th eory
processes are more important than hierarchy and authority, that the exercise of
power is a central feature of bureaucratic behavior, and that the analyst view of
reality is more an interpreting function of practical experience than a pursuit of
objective fi ndings. All these theoretical perspectives are thought to be more femi-
nine than masculine (Stivers 1996; Morton and Lindquist 1997).
Many of the elements of postpositivist public administration described earlier
in this chapter could be thought of as inclined toward a feminist perspective in
the fi eld. In specifi c terms, the logic of bureaucratic neutrality is anything but
neutral. Bureaucratic functioning tends to subordinate women. Th e logic of the
hierarchy is also understood to be more masculine, but the service or helping
perspective of process approaches to bureaucratic functioning is thought to be
feminine (Stivers 2000).
Professions are important features in the evolution of the public service
public—engineers being mostly men, teachers mostly women, for example. Th e
feminist professional distinction has been brilliantly set out in the richly empir-
ical Bureau Men, Settlement Women: Constructing Public Administration in the
Progressive Era (Stivers 2000). Th e feminist perspective in the progressive era is
captured in a study of settlement women (we would now probably call them so-
cial workers) who organized and operated large service programs for the poor.
“Female reformers of the time developed their own understanding of science,
one centered not around objectivity and rigor but around connectedness (313).
Th e day-to-day work of the settlement involved an intimate understanding of
the circumstances of others, sympathy and support, advocacy, and anything but
disinterested neutrality.
Feminists see leadership diff erently. Th e masculine logic of taking charge,
being the decisionmaker, executing authority, maximizing effi ciency, and being
goal oriented is challenged by a feminist leadership logic. Th e feminist perspec-
tive looks a lot like the logic of democratic administration found in postpositivist
public administration—group decisionmaking, consensus, teamwork, delibera-
tion, and discourse. In its most extreme form, this perspective favors the leader-
less organization or the logic of leader rotation.
From the feminist perspective, images of the public administrator as guardian,
hero, or high-profi le leader are masculine. Th e application of fairness, compas-
sion, benevolence, and civic-mindedness are thought to be more feminine. Th e
administrator as citizen rather than leader is also associated with feminist logic:
Women’s perspective on the administrative state is much more likely to be devel-
oped sitting in the secretarial pool or on one side or the other of the caseworker’s
desk than it is as a member of the Senior Executive Service. A feminist approach
to public administration means examining the material realities of women’s place
in the bureaucracy and the barriers they face to fuller participation, which as we
have seen include both glass ceilings and glass walls.