Spatial Modesty (Chaudhry and Priola, 2024)

Welcome to Revise and Resubmit, the podcast where we unpack groundbreaking research from the world’s most prestigious journals. Today, we’re exploring a fascinating study published in the Journal of Management Studies, a respected member of the FT50, Financial Times' elite list of the world’s top business journals. This episode brings you into the work of Shafaq Chaudhry and Vincenza Priola, whose study titled Spatial Modesty: The Everyday Production of Gendered Space in Segregated and Assimilative Organizations dives into how workplace space can be shaped by cultural and religious beliefs, specifically in Pakistani banks. In their work, Chaudhry and Priola apply Lefebvre’s spatial theory, weaving it together with principles of Islamic feminism to reveal how purdah, or spatial modesty, subtly but powerfully impacts the design and dynamics of workspaces in Pakistani financial institutions. They explore how gendered spaces are shaped by selective appropriation of Islamic values, creating a unique blend of cultural adherence and individual agency as women find ways to work within—and at times around—their organizations’ modesty practices. So, here’s a question to ponder: In workplaces around the globe, how much influence do cultural and religious values have on the spaces we move through every day? Our thanks to the authors and the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd for bringing this study to life. To keep these insightful discussions coming, subscribe to Revise and Resubmit on Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, or Apple Podcasts, and don’t forget to check out our YouTube channel, Weekend Researcher. Reference Chaudhry, S., & Priola, V. (2024). Spatial Modesty: The Everyday Production of Gendered Space in Segregated and Assimilative Organizations. Journal of Management Studies. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.13153 Youtube channel link ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@weekendresearcher⁠