Men in Finance for Emancipatory Social Change?

This chapter addresses the question of how men contribute to achieving gender equality and, more broadly, emancipatory change, by focusing on a social group that is usually less associated with emancipatory change and critique, and more with the (re)production of hegemonic masculinity and the hegemony of men: men in leading positions in the financial sector. It uses a threefold perspective on the political dimension of gender: concerning a person's mode of existence, their agency and concerning the political constitution of the social. This question of how men in leading positions in the financial sector struggle with and question gender relations in their workplace, and the role their industry plays in society, is followed up by analysing two published autobiographical books by men who were in prestigious senior positions in the financial sector. They describe (self)critical reflections on their work and life. These autobiographies show how the 'personal is political, gendered and economic', to adapt the feminist slogan, from their specific inside angle and thereby offer insights into potentials and challenges for gender equality as an aspect of emancipatory change on an individual, institutional and societal level.