Feminist Organizational Structure in the White House: The Office of Women’s Initiatives and Outreach:

In 1995, President Clinton established the first formally organized office for women's issues in the Executive Office of the President (EOP): the Office of Womens Initiatives and Outreach (OWIO). The creation of the OWIO provides a unique opportunity to analyze the influence of gender on our governmental institutions. In this article, we explore feminist organizational theory and new institutionalism in organization theory using a longitudinal case study of the OWIO. We argue that a masculine organizational culture permeates the structure and processes of the EOP and that this culture ultimately shaped the success of the OWIO. This analysis not only helps us identify the gendered nature of the EOP, but also enables us to see how governmental institutions incorporate cultural and environmental experiences into their rules and daily routines. "Ever been in the Oval Office?" "Sir, I'm a little intimidated by my surroundings." "Did you know the city planners, when they sat down to design Washington, D.C., their intention was to build a city that would intimidate and humble foreign heads of State. The White House has the single greatest home court advantage in the modern world." . . . excerpt from the film The American President, 1995 Popular culture and scholars alike commonly describe the modern presidency in relation to power, competition, and authority. Bradley Patterson (1988) described the White House and the Executive Office of the President in terms of the "ring of power."1 President Elsenhower's organizational model of the White House is depicted as a "competent, machine-like football team, marching the policy field," while Kennedy's White House "a small fluid basketball team trying to create fast breaks" (Pfiffner 1994: 35). At first, these observations appear to be benign descriptions of the United States presidency. This view, however, is far from benign. Instead, these descriptions reflect a masculinist culture in of one of our most powerful political institutions-the Executive Office of the President-a fact that has far-reaching consequences for the design of public policy. We discuss here the intersection of gender and the Executive Office of the President (EOP). We do so by examining, in depth, the Office of Women's Initiatives and Outreach (OWIO) and its history within the EOP. Although several modern presidents have designated special assistants to work on women's issues, when President Clinton created the OWIO in 1995, it marked the first time that a formally organized office pertaining to women's issues was established in the White House Office (WHO) under the aegis of the EOP. After conducting an institutional analysis of the EOP and its gendered history, we use a case study of the OWIO to argue that a masculine2 organizational culture permeates the structure and processes of the EOP and that this culture shaped the performance and affected the success of the OWIO. This kind of longitudinal analysis will help executive branch scholars and new institutionalists3 to understand better how political institutions incorporate cultural and environmental experiences into their rules and daily routines, including those which reveal the gendered nature of the EOP. Further, the analysis will help feminist organizational theorists develop a greater understanding of feminist and non-feminist organizations, especially those located within our political institutions. Between 1995 and 2000, the OWIO had four directors, two offices, and multiple directives for outreach and policy action. The first director structured the office non-hierarchically. She selected an office location outside the gates of the White House and opened the doors to national women's groups with the lure of coffee and cookies in the front office. Her intention was to create an environment for women advocates in the hope that they could use this office to discuss women's policy. Subsequent directors structured the office in a much more hierarchical fashion and moved the office closer to the president within the confines of White House Security. …