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Following the August 2020 blast in Beirut, a national grassroots initiative, Khaddit Beirut, came together. KB's efforts range from co-creating "community-led, evidence-based, and locally-driven" schools and community healthcare centers and rebuilding small and mediate enterprises damaged by the blast, to creating new models for civic activism and engagement and framing and enacting "expertise in action" as a process. All of which had to be done in situated ways commensurate with the constraints imposed by local history and the needs created by the shared experience of catastrophe. Building on Lawrence and Phillips (2019), we explore which forms of social-symbolic work (SSW) the KB undertook, and combined, as it built an ecosystem of cooperation, civic engagement, and organizational and institutional innovation in a geographically and historically bounded context characterized by endemic toxic institutional conditions, political corruption, societal division, and catastrophic economic collapse. We find that amidst crisis, SSW unfolds in each of three main domains, self, organization, and institutional work, but the capacity to perform one kind of work may be contingent on the ongoing engagement in another kind of work. Organization work enabled the self work of claiming expertise and working through trauma, which in turn enabled the organization work of putting that expertise in action. Without both, the institutional work social change appears out of the question. We make contributions regarding SSW, participatory action research, and the use of feminist geography and epistemology in enhancing organizational perspectives on the situatedness of SSW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increasing attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues in global value chains (Gond & Moon, 2011), the complicity of multinational corporations in perpetuating global inequities is still on the sidelines in mainstream scholarship and practice (Banerjee, 2014). More recently, gendered inequities across global value chains have begun to be recognised in the CSR literature (e.g. Grosser, 2009; Karam & Jamali, 2013; McCarthy, 2017). However, intersectional voices continue to remain veiled or missing in this discourse (Ozkazanc-Pan, 2018). An intersectional approach to CSR acknowledges that the dominant hegemony erases the experiences of other less-privileged group members (Crenshaw, 1989; Liu, 2017). It enables us to understand GVCs and CSR in a different way, and that the inequalities therein are 'the outcome of intersections of different social locations, power relations and experiences' (Hankivsky, 2014: 1). Further, explorations of CSR in GVC contexts need to investigate not just women and children as oppressed, and men as oppressors, but to explicate the 'multiple sources' of actors' privilege as well as their experiences of discrimination (Crenshaw, 1989; McCarthy, Soundararajan & Taylor, 2019). Privilege and discrimination; and agency and oppression are nested in power structures and present in complex multidimensional experiences (Crenshaw, 1989; Mohanty, 2003).. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extant literature on women's careers, work opportunities and experiences has examined diverse individual and contextual factors that enable or hinder their career progression and access to leadership positions. This presenter symposium will provide novel insights and theoretical approaches for understanding women's careers and leadership experiences in diverse organizational, professional, national and regional contexts. Drawing on five distinct international bodies of empirical data, it develops and extends contemporary theory to inform future social and organizational policy. In line with this year's AOM theme "bringing the manager back in management", the symposium will generate critical reflection for gender-inclusive careers, HRM and leadership scholarship, discourse, policy and practice. With a specific focus on incorporating diverse global perspectives and the temporal dimension of careers, the papers each provide insight into women's career trajectories in different cultural contexts. Moreover, the organizers and presenters come from diverse cultural backgrounds with different scholastic affiliations: Lebanon, France, Switzerland, India, Brussels, Australia, Austria, Greece, and the United States. The collective contribution from the papers is augmented, therefore, by the diversity and complementarity of theoretical lenses applied and their respective research ontologies and epistemologies as well as the institutional and cultural contexts of the presenters and organizers. Finding their way through multiple logics: Female doctors' leadership careers. Presenter: Isabella Scheibmayr; U. of Salzburg. Presenter: Astrid Reichel; U. of Salzburg. Ongoing Gender Disparity in Corporations: Career and Life Trajectories of Executive Board Members. Presenter: Liv Nelson; U. of St. Gallen. Women Leaders in India: Career Resilience as a Strategic Career Resource. Presenter: Snigdha Pattnaik; -. Presenter: Sadhna Dash; XIM U. How fairness experiences at work around maternity leave are linked with career motives of mothers. Presenter: Camille Desjardins; PhD Student. Presenter: Marion Fortin; U. of Toulouse I, Capitole. Gender Disparity in COVID-19 Impacts on Academic Careers: An Agent-Based Model. Presenter: Chantal Van Esch; Cal Poly Pomona. Presenter: Mai P. Trinh; Arizona State U. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research in management emphasizes the need to engage with grand challenges of our time, such as climate change, inequality, poverty, ecological imbalances, conflict, socioeconomic and political crises, etc. in which organizations, their managers, and other stakeholders are implicated and by which they are also impacted in various ways. We take this conversation further and in a new direction through a panel of academics who have gone 'beyond academia'. In addition to publishing research related to such challenges, these academics have also engaged in significant efforts 'on the ground' to address such challenges through policy work, social activism, leadership roles outside of typical academic settings, roles in social movements, becoming part of solution implementation in communities, and so on. Our symposium discusses how the exploration of such roles by management academics can open up our field to make an impact towards addressing grand challenges in direct ways and also feed back into theory, methodology, and pedagogy in unexpected and fortuitous ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current study, we investigate the connections between power and the technology-organizing nexus. To do this, we explore how the lived experience of refugees shapes the enactment of smartphone affordances in their day-to-day organizing practices. Our central research question is: "How do refugees perceive the affordances of the smartphone to enable (empower) or constrain (oppress) their daily organizing during settlement?" To disentangle the role of technology from the activities necessary for organizing, we develop a hybrid lens that draws on a feminist interpretation of Affordance Theory and allows for an explicit consideration of power dynamics. We focus on the interrelation between the materiality of the smartphone, the action possibilities it provides in relation to organizing, and the related power dynamics. We adopt a qualitative analysis of 32 in-depth interviews with Syrian refugees settled throughout the Lebanese territory. Our findings highlight the specific affordances of the material characteristic whether empowering or subjecting the actor to oppression. Furthermore, we shed light on the pervasive role of the layers of power. Our main findings suggest that smartphone affordances can (1) be oppressive as well as empowering; (2) push the parameters of organizing thereby serving as a basis for mediated agency related to overcoming oppression; and (3) shape small changes impacting the experience of gender-based oppression. On a practical level, these findings suggest that initiatives aiming to empower refugees through technology should not build on empowerment and ignore oppression, but rather attempt to integrate both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increasing attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues in global value chains (Gond & Moon, 2011), the complicity of multinational corporations in perpetuating global inequities is still on the sidelines in mainstream scholarship and practice (Banerjee, 2014). More recently, gendered inequities across global value chains have begun to be recognised in the CSR literature (e.g. Grosser, 2009; Karam & Jamali, 2013; McCarthy, 2017). However, intersectional voices continue to remain veiled or missing in this discourse (Ozkazanc-Pan, 2018). An intersectional approach to CSR acknowledges that the dominant hegemony erases the experiences of other less-privileged group members (Crenshaw, 1989; Liu, 2017). It enables us to understand GVCs and CSR in a different way, and that the inequalities therein are 'the outcome of intersections of different social locations, power relations and experiences' (Hankivsky, 2014: 1). Further, explorations of CSR in GVC contexts need to investigate not just women and children as oppressed, and men as oppressors, but to explicate the 'multiple sources' of actors' privilege as well as their experiences of discrimination (Crenshaw, 1989; McCarthy, Soundararajan & Taylor, 2019). Privilege and discrimination; and agency and oppression are nested in power structures and present in complex multidimensional experiences (Crenshaw, 1989; Mohanty, 2003). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurship is applauded globally by governments and international agencies including the United Nations (UN) as a potential solution for a multitude of global challenges addressed within the UN's 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). Entrepreneurship is upheld as a significant pathway for reducing unemployment and achieving sustainable development and prosperity, and is seen as a potential transformational driver of achieving the SDGs crafted by the UN in 2015, and envisioned to be achieved by 2030. However, their achievement remains a rocky road where most goals will not be met by the 2030 deadline. Largely ignored by policy makers, women's entrepreneurship can be a means to maximizing and accelerating the achievement of the UN SDGs to benefit individual entrepreneurs and their communities. The proposed panel symposium brings together engaged leading scholars focusing upon women's entrepreneurship from diverse perspectives and contexts, to discuss how women's entrepreneurship contributes to the advancement of the realization of the UN SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current realities concerning the global refugee crises are challenging: protracted crises in variant geographic locations, substantial population displacement with over 68.5 million refugees worldwide, donor fatigue and decreasing amounts of aid, host community fatigue and increasing levels of frustration. In the context of the Syrian refugee crisis specifically, daily life challenges make survival difficult. At the same time, Syrian refugees are reported to be the most technologically enabled refugees. The press has extensively reported on their use of personal technologies such as smartphone devices and have engaged in debates on a number of related questions. For example, there has been much debate about the safety threats, the governance parameters, privacy dynamics, and the choices concerning technology purchases that may limit other possible resource attainment and many other issues. Such issues lead us to explore the role of information and communication technologies in refugee adaptation to this major disruption, including refugee integration. The general aim of this symposium is to bring together researchers and practitioners from management, innovation, entrepreneurship, social and information technology fields to discuss, and debate the role of technology in the response of refugees and refugee communities as well as other stakeholders to the current global refugee crises. The hope is to carve out pathways forward for research, theory development and practical policy interventions vis-Ã -vis refugee crises that focus on the intersections and interactions between technology and the personal efforts of the refugees. Impact of ICT on Community Participation in Refugee Camps Presenter: Raymond Saner; CSEND research SDGs RBC Presenter: Lichia Saner-Yiu; Centre for Socio-Eco-Nomic Development Social Innovation for the Win: How an 'AirBnB for Refugees' Shapes Refugee Integration Presenter: Hans Van Dijk; Tilburg U. Presenter: Sophie Alkhaled; Lancaster U. Management School Presenter: Lena Knappert; Tilburg U. Presenter: Gabi Dodoiu; - Presenter: Quita Muis; tilburg uni Refugees and feminist notions of work: how the smartphone transformed power dynamics and work Presenter: Randa Salamoun; American U. of Beirut Presenter: Charlotte M. Karam; American U. of Beirut How to improve societal impact by technology firms in fragile and conflict settings Presenter: John E. Katsos; American U. of Sharjah Presenter: Jason Miklian; U. of Oslo ICTs and resettlement of refugees: Practitioner stories from the trenches Presenter: Michael Coniff; Rochester Refugee Resettlement Services [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This panel symposium explores the role of business in relation to gender equality through a focus on improving lives (this year's CMS theme). It begins by critiquing the 'improving lives' approach generally adopted by organizations in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and other similar efforts by discussing critically how research and practice on gender equality and business addresses business contributions to gender inequality in the workplace and society. Then, by focusing explicitly on whether such efforts change gender and power dynamics towards equity, whether they simply replicate the status-quo but aim to do no further damage, or whether they might in fact exacerbate gender inequality in new ways even while they aim to facilitate, or improve, women's lives, the symposium outlines new directions for scholars and scholarship in this area. By distinguishing and clarifying these different approaches to gender equality and business, which have often previously been bundled together, this panel symposium operationalizes the 2018 AOM conference theme to facilitate a more nuanced debate on how to advance practice as well as research. In all, the symposium showcases how the debate continues for feminist researchers and activists as to how to hold corporations and local enterprises to account for potential negative gender impacts, and what mechanisms are available/can be created to explore women's voice and agency in reversing this situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there have been visible increases in gender balanced corporate governance structures globally following the introduction in many countries of mandatory quotas for women's participation on corporate boards (MSCI survey, 2014). The implementation of gender quotas begins to address longstanding issues related to gender-biases and underrepresentation, both issues that are of increasing interest to practitioners and researchers alike. In this proposed symposium, we adopt a multi-country perspective and discuss the parameters of implementation for mandatory quotas in different context. We explore the perceptions of various stakeholders about how and why women are appointed to boards, who are the women being appointed, what are some of the perceived multi-level challenges to serving on boards, and what are the measures of successful performance. This symposium brings together five papers authored by 15 scholars from 5 different countries and 11 different institutions globally. This diversity within the proposed symposium provides a much-needed platform for novel insights and new understandings about women's pathways to and retention on successful corporate boards. Political and regulatory pressure to promote women's access to business leadership position Presenter: Patricia Gabaldon; IE Business School Presenter: Ruth Mateos De Cabo; CEU San Pablo U. Presenter: Ricardo Gimeno; Banco de España Presenter: Pilar Grau; U. Rey Juan Carlos Female pathways to corporate boards: an institutional perspective Presenter: Fouad Rechmani; U. de Burgos, Spain Presenter: Fida Afiouni; American U. of Beirut Presenter: Charlotte M. Karam; American U. of Beirut Good Ol Boys and Steel Magnolias: How and Why Corporate Boards Appoint Female Directors Presenter: Vasilia Vasiliou; Bentley U. Presenter: Susan Adams; Bentley U. Beyond Tokenisnm: A Social Identity Perspective On Female Director Appointments Presenter: Orhun Guldiken; Manhattan College Presenter: Mark Mallon; Elon U. Presenter: Stav Fainshmidt; Florida International U. Presenter: William Q. Judge; Old Dominion U. The HR-Lady is on board: Legitimacy of women in executive boards, and the rise of women in HRM Presenter: Astrid Reichel; WU Vienna U. of Economics and Business Presenter: Isabella Scheibmayr; U. of Salzburg, Austria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research has indicated that gender diversity at the strategic leadership level of the firm (especially the top management team and board of directors) can positively influence performance, the contextual factors shaping this relationship are not well understood. This symposium represents a collection of five research projects that rely on a diverse range of theories, samples, and methodologies to form a cohesive effort to address this gap. Two studies examine human capital aspects of female leaders to help explain their effect on firm performance, finding that their unique, individualized skillsets help them contribute to firm performance, sometimes in ways that are more difficult for male counterparts. Another uses information processing theory to underscore how women leaders use information differently from men and react differently to market-based measures of performance. Finally, two studies use cross-country samples to examine the institutional moderators of the female leader-firm performance relationship. Our discussant, Kate Grosser, will offer closing remarks regarding the contributions of each paper and the future directions for research on gender diversity in strategic leadership and the effects on firm performance. The collective contribution of the papers will be discussed in light of the AOM 2018 theme "improving lives" and the audience will be invited to reflect on the following question: what can organizations do to contribute to a more inclusive society? Top Management Team Gender Equality and Firm Performance Presenter: Jing Cao; PEKING U. FOUNDER GROUP CO., LTD Presenter: Wei Zheng; U. of Wisconsin, River Falls Presenter: Xiaoping Zhao; Shanghai Jiao Tong U. Examining the Missing Link in Board Gender Diversity-Firm Performance Relationship Presenter: Raisa Clements; U. of Groningen Presenter: Esha Mendiratta; Groningen U. (RuG) Board Gender Quota Effectiveness and Firm Financial Performance Presenter: Philip Yang; U. of Tuebingen Presenter: Katharina Moser; Eberhard Karls U. Tübingen Presenter: Kerstin Pull; Eberhard Karls U. Tübingen How Executive Experience, Gender, and Busyness Predict Director Effectiveness Presenter: Arun Upadhyay; Florida International U. Presenter: Mary Triana; U. of Wisconsin, Madison The Influence of Board Gender Diversity on Investment-to-Q Sensitivity Presenter: Wenjing Ouyang; U. of the Pacific Presenter: Jeffrey Miles; U. of the Pacific Presenter: Samuel Szewczyk; Drexel U. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we consider context more centrally in research on career calling. Conceptualized as situational opportunities and constraints, we attempt to expand how we understand the influence of context on shaping a person's career calling. Interviews were conducted with 40 successful women working in non-traditional gender careers in a context where female labor force participation ranks one of the lowest globally. Our results evidence that these women experience context in a manner that is laden with patriarchal, sectarian, politically unstable and challenging constraints. Our results also suggest; however that these same contextual factors serve as a "pushing force" leading these women to develop a calling that is other-oriented. Based on these findings, we contribute to existing conceptualizations of calling by providing an extended, contextualized and process-oriented analytic model of career calling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patriarchy is an omnipresent institution that limits the paid work opportunities of women and legitimizes women's unpaid work within the home. Using notions of institutional logics and legitimacy judgments (i.e., validity and propriety), we attempt to trace women's perceptions of macrolevel private and public patriarchal forces coupled with their own microlevel cognitions regarding the legitimacy of not engaging in paid work. We analyze 31 interviews with women living in a patriarchal society where female labor force participation rates are of the lowest in the world. Results show a cycle of patriarchal oppression whereby reinforcement of private patriarchy occurs both, first hand, through various experiences and, second hand, through observations of the negative public manifestations of patriarchy. Women describe the harsh realities of male dominated workplaces, lower pay, harassment, questioning of virtue, and accusations over neglecting their homes. This, in turn, results in ceasing to actively consider and/or experience paid work and in passively accepting not working at all. Furthermore, the underlying legitimacy logics used are largely based on private patriarchal responsibilities that are either instrumental for the household or relational to family members. In effect, this leads to the reinforcement of patriarchal structures and, ultimately, a cycle of patriarchal oppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The connections linking HRM and CSR are many and far reaching. Recent research highlighting micro-foundations of CSR and earlier writings on the strategic turn in HRM, are two examples of directions that researchers have taken to explicitly link the management of human resources to responsible business practices. Although tracing such connections is useful in contexts across the globe, in the proposed symposium we focus specifically on the HRM- CSR nexus within the context of developing nations and as it relates specifically to women. We explore the ways in which organizations and its employees/managers in developing economies can leverage HRM practices and internal/external CSR strategies to provide meaningful tools or mechanisms for gender development, for better understanding of gender dynamics within the organization, and/or for the advancement of women's careers. This symposium therefore brings together five papers to explore the HRM-CSR nexus as a space for gendered-based organizational considerations for positive development both within and outside of the organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present symposium is interested in exploring the different forms of gender mainstreaming that are derived from the different visions and theories for promoting gender equality, in different developing countries and different policy domains, in order to push forward the theoretical debates on that front. More specifically, the symposium explores how multi-level governance at the state and organizational level affects the development and implementation of approaches that institutional actors adopt to work towards gender equality in developing economies. The five papers included in this symposium contribute each to this exploration and highlight specific multilevel factors (e.g. nature of political regimes, legislative frameworks, social and cultural constraints, business pressures) in various contexts such as the Middle East, Brazil, Pakistan and other developing economies that shape gender mainstreaming and governance strategies at the state and organizational levels. Moreover, the papers allow for an examination of gender mainstreaming from relational, contextual, and institutional lenses to understand which predominant ideologies guide the vision of gender equality in developing economies. Following the presentations, symposium discussant Dr. Kate Grosser will provide comments and insights related to the presentations, after which the chairs Dr. Charlotte Karam and Dr. Fida Afiouni will invite questions from the audience and provide concluding remarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

onsidering the intersection between gender, public/private patriarchy and governance, this paper explores the legitimacy justifications of female unemployment in the Arab Middle Eastern country of Lebanon. Our analytic framework integrates institutional theory's notions of legitimacy (i.e., validity and propriety) with notions of public/private patriarchy to examine the microlevel processes resulting in women's legitimacy judgments of their (un)employment. Qualitative in-depth interviews with 31 married women were analyzed using QSR NVivo10. Results show that when facing prevalent patriarchal pressures to limit activity to the private sphere, these women tend to judge the legitimacy of their own unemployment in terms that are either instrumental for the household or relational to family members. Other findings suggest that the pattern of responses to the patriarchal pressures do not fully match the advice they offer to other women. That is, where most women's responses to patriarchal structures are aligned with patterns of personal acquiescence and compromise; their advice to other women includes a larger range of responses from strategic maneuvering and self-development, to defiance. We conclude with a broader discussion of female unemployment and argue that it cannot be fully understood without a multidimensional and multilevel perspective that critically reflects on patriarchal governance structures and the associated processes that limit women's perceptions of opportunities for employment and the legitimacy of participation in the public sphere more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there has been some increased scholarship on CSR in developing countries, and new insights into the cultural and local specifics of CSR engagement, there is need for additional research that can inform a more nuanced and sophisticated research agenda that links to public policy and development goals in more substantive ways. Various authors have highlighted a core challenge pertaining to how to move CSR beyond philanthropy, rhetoric, legitimization, imagery, and public relations in the developing world to substantive engagement that addresses engrained social problems (e.g. poverty, education, unemployment) and that has developmental impact and implications. Building on a series of efforts to explore a development-oriented approach to CSR, this paper symposium showcases five papers that explore various facets of the developmental role of CSR, with a particular focus on the question of the promise and potential of CSR to serve as an effective development tool in developing and emerging economies. Understanding Corporations as Political Actors: Implications for Social Development. Presenter: Kristin E. Huber; U. of Hamburg. Presenter: Dirk Ulrich Gilbert; U. of Hamburg. A Responsibility Calculus: Global Dialogue and Local Discourses. Presenter: Duane Windsor; Rice U. When Microfinance meets CSR: Bridging the Gap. Presenter: Diego B. Marconatto; HEC Montreal. Presenter: Luciano Barin Cruz; HEC Montreal. Presenter: Eugenio Ávila Pedrozo; U. Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Corporations and the Development Deficit: Is CSR Part of the Solution or Part of the Problem. Presenter: Nonita Yap; U. of Guelph. The Headquartering Effect in International CSR: Evidence from UN Global Compact Signatories. Presenter: Ralf Barkemeyer; U. of Leeds. Presenter: Lutz Preuss; U. of London. Presenter: Frank Figge; Kedge Business School [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A notable phenomenon in the Arab Middle East is the growing number of educated and skilled women who are unemployed at disproportionate rates when compared to their male compatriots In contrast to the Leaking Pipeline described in many national contexts in Europe and North America, it appears that in the Arab world the pipeline is experiencing ever-increasing pressure -- what has been referred to as the Bursting Pipeline. This pressure adds to the frustrations felt throughout the region exacerbating the multitude of challenges faced by professionals, entrepreneurs, employers, and governments aiming to revive economic growth after the onset of the uprising and far-reaching institutional changes. In this paper symposium, we showcase five papers that move research towards concrete actions that various stakeholders can undertake in support of dissipating the pressure within the pipeline and therefore supporting female contributions to regional economic development overall. If accepted, this symposium would be the fourth of a series of Gender in Middle East symposia held by the organizers over the last 4 years at the AOM annual meeting. National Comparisons of Gender Egalitarianism in Islamic-Majority and Other Countries. Presenter: Romie Frederick Littrell; Auckland U. of Technology. Presenter: Andy Bertsch; Minot State U. Presenter: Young Seob Son; Bemidji State U. A Quantitative Study of Women's Work Engagement in Telecommunication Companies in Jordan. Presenter: Muntaha Banihani; U. of Kent. Presenter: Jawad Syed; U. of Huddersfield. Presenter: Patricia M. J. Lewis; U. of Kent. Employer Activities to Promote Women in Business and Management in the Arab Middle East. Presenter: Charlotte M. Karam; American U. of Beirut. Family Influence on Career Choice: Emirati Women and Factors Affecting Decisions to Enter Technolo. Presenter: Liza Jane Howe-Walsh; U. of Portsmouth. Presenter: Sarah Turnbull; U. of Portsmouth. Why does Human Capital go to Waste? Uncovering Perceived Barriers to Women's Employment in Lebanon. Presenter: Fida Afiouni; American U. of Beirut [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent focus on the Arab Middle East in research and on the news often highlights the multitude of challenges faced by individuals, groups, companies and governments aiming to revive economic growth in the region after the onset of the current uprising and institutional changes taking place (de Soto, 2011; Witts 2010). Two symposia on women at work in the Arab MENA organized during the last two years of the AOM annual meetings included papers arguing that integrating women into the formal economy by removing barriers to entry, as well as, facilitating ascension in organizations are key to economic development in this part of the world. This year, we focus the discussion on the organization and more specifically on the human resource policies and practices that exist in the Arab Middle East. Our goal in this 2013 AOM Symposium is to stimulate reflections on the type and content of organizational and Human Resource Management (HRM) policies that could: (1) support women's access to employment and facilitate career progression, as well as (2) simultaneously stimulate economic development. Some of the questions we are interested in exploring concern how organizations can integrate local dynamics such as the centrality of the family, Islam, Patriarchal complementarity within their human resource policies. How can organizations develop human resource policies that reflect the life priorities and prevailing values within the region? How do the current dynamics surrounding the Arab Spring (or "Arab Awakening") create a space and a momentum for researchers to reflect on the potential for policy, practice, and representation change within HRM systems within the region? Such questions continuously point to the need for approaching HRM in the region by stepping within the particularities of that region. We showcase in this symposium five papers that move research towards concrete actions that human resource managers can undertake in support of women's sustainable employment as well as in support of female contributions to regional economic development overall. Reasonable Accommodation for Veiled Women? The Case of the Lebanon Presenter: Yusuf M. Sidani; American U. of Beirut Traditional versus Contemporary: The Unfolding of the Careers of Emirati Women Managers Presenter: Hayfaa Tlaiss; U. of New Brunswick Leadership by beverly Presenter: Beverly Metcalfe; U. of Manchester "Women, Not An Object: A multilevel Perspective on Gender Equality in Employment Is Saudi Arabia" Presenter: Jawad Syed; U. of Kent Presenter: Faiza Ali; U. of Kent Opportunities for Women's Employment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Presenter: Linzi J. Kemp; American U. of Sharjah Presenter: Susan R. Madsen; Utah Valley U. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]