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Workplaces have transformed over the past decades in response to global forces. This case study of a Mexican-owned multinational corporation compares employee perceptions of a new work culture required to confront these demands. Employees are expected to work long hours and to produce results, obtain the right skills and knowledge, and exhibit proactivity. Drawing on extensive qualitative data, this article theorizes what the expectations mean for women and men employees. The competitive culture reinforces inequality because expectations are grounded in the gendered "ideal worker" narrative. However, tensions ensue for the company that is partly characterized by paternalism yet requires a competitive work culture. The study uncovers a hybrid organizational logic with gendered assumptions undergirding a hidden inequality as professional women navigate the emergence of the glass ceiling in the global south.

Mexican workplaces have changed significantly in response to the global marketplace by restructuring, downsizing, and implementing new production and administrative processes. This case study analyzes organizational commitment at aMexican‐owned multinational corporation within the context of workplace transformation. Based on in‐depth interviews with 83 women and men,Iidentify two sources of commitment—family‐friendly and career‐friendly employment practices. Using the framework of the gendered life course, I show commitment fluctuated given the employees' stage in the life course. This study builds on the gender and work research by exploring how individual attributes of gender and parental status contribute to organizational commitment, but are underscored by the complexity of workplace context.

Drawing on extensive qualitative data at a Mexican‐owned multinational corporation, this case study investigates professional employees' perceptions of changes to a prohibitive work policy requiring women to quit working upon marriage and having children. Employees believed the policy change meant working women were valued employees, but how this translated into opportunity highlighted distinct views of the types of positions professional women could occupy at the company, reinforcing sex‐segregated job allocation. Whereas women's narratives pointed to cultural resistance, men's narratives attributed the dearth of women in higher level positions to their lack of professionalism and commitment to work. The work policy changeonlyguaranteed therightfor women to work as the company modernized to fit the neoliberal demands of the global marketplace. Now women faced the challenge of turning that right into career advancement in a traditionally masculine‐defined company. I argue that even with the policy change, gendered discourses on women in professional occupations constructed and maintained gender inequities in the workplace. This study contributes to the scholarly discussion on gendered discourses within the context of global restructuring by showinghowmechanisms at work maintain gender inequity in the workplace.

Employees increasingly claim they do not have enough time to manage the demands of both work and family/life. Workplace flexibility policies have been offered as a key solution to managing these conflicting demands. Yet, employers remain resistant to develop, implement, and endorse these policies. We suggest one avenue to further our understanding is a more holistic look at the connection between availability and use of flexibility, and the workplace context. We specifically examine flexplace. The data derive from 25 in-depth interviews of employees in professional and supervisory positions in the U.S. automotive industry. By examining the variation of flexplace policy availability, we unpack the logics of employee use/non-use of flexplace. We argue that different assumptions of the ideal worker norm undergird flexplace availability, which in turn create different rules of engagement and use. This study offers an analytical model to extend our theorizing on the availability/use gap. Examination of ideal worker norms allows insight into how employees struggle to decipher signals on permissible flexplace use. The findings capture dynamic and interrelated relationships to uncover the constraints of policies and the power of the workplace context.