Analyzing Apple's Management Through the Lens of Liberal Feminism

This essay explores how Apple Inc. utilizes liberal feminism as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to drive social change and enhance its brand image. The analysis highlights Apple's commitment to women empowerment, evident in its diversified workforce and leadership roles held by women. The essay discusses how Apple's initiatives, such as leadership training and maternity leave, support women employees, aligning with the principles of liberal feminism. By providing growth opportunities, Apple empowers women to achieve success through their actions and choices, challenging traditional gender roles. The essay concludes that Apple's adoption of liberal feminism not only promotes diversity and growth within the organization but also significantly improves its brand image and financial performance.

Running head: APPLE AND LIBERAL FEMINISM
Apple and Liberal Feminism
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1APPLE AND LIBERAL FEMINISM
Introduction
As opined by Robertson (2016), the terms feminism and women empowerment had
become the catch-phrases of the contemporary age and are being extensively used to connote
the change which had taken place in the position of women in the contemporary times. Lewis
et al. (2016) are of the viewpoint that feminism can be defined as the advocacy for the rights
of the women and also as an initiative to offer them the kind of opportunities of which they
have been deprived since the traditional times. The women fraternity since the traditional
times had been relegated to the background on the basis of their gender and at the same time
had been subjected to oppression as well as dominance (Shildrick 2015). However, in the
present times because of the professional as well as personal success gained by the women
the outlook or the opinion of the people had changed in a substantial manner. More
importantly, different organizations like Apple, Vodafone and others are actively taking up
the cause of women empowerment as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR)
activity to bring about social change and also to improve their brand image (Prügl 2017). This
essay will analyze the manner in which the theory of liberal feminism is being used the
organization Apple to bring a social change and also to improve their brand image in the
business market.
Analysis
The organization Apple Inc, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve
Wozniak, is an American multinational technology organization which specializes in the
manufacture of computers, laptops, smart phones and related apps (Apple.com 2019). More
importantly, the organization is known for the high quality of technological products and
software that it offers to the customers. As a matter of fact, the extensive focus of the
organization on the entity of quality is one of the major reasons which had enabled the

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organization to gain a significant amount of success over the years. In this regard, it needs to
be said that the net revenue generated by the organization for the year 2018 was US$265.595
billion which places it among the top ten organizations of the world in terms of the annual
generated by it (Apple.com 2019). More importantly, the organization is currently operational
in more than 170 nations of the world and offers employment to more than 132,000
individuals from the different parts of the world (Apple.com 2019). However, the
organization in the recent times had attracted a significant amount of criticism because of the
aggressive business policies followed by it and this is perhaps one of the major reasons why
the organization is currently using the cause of women empowerment as one of its major
CSR activities.
Halley et al. (2018) are of the viewpoint that the theory of liberal feminism can be
defined as a form of individualistic feminist theory which focuses on the actions of the
women as well as their abilities so as to attain equality within the male dominated society.
This is important from the perspective that the male dominated society since the traditional
times have doubted the abilities of the women because of their gender as well as their
biological structure (Ogletree, Diaz and Padilla 2017). This is perhaps one of the major
reasons why the female individuals have been relegated to the background of the society
since the traditional times and have not been given much encouragement to attain
professional as well as personal success (Loke, Bachmann and Harp 2017). However, this
theory of feminism by articulating the fact that the women can attain a higher level of success
and can also earn equality within the framework of the modern society by dint of their actions
and also activities is important since it totally repudiates the traditional opinion held by the
people that the women are weaker section of the society (Gurung, Partap and Choudhary
2015). The net result of this is that this theory within a very short time has emerged as one of

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the feministic theories and is being extensively used by the various women activists to
support the cause of female empowerment.
Findings
The mantra of the organization Apple is “Humanity is plural, not singular.
The best way the world works is everybody in. Nobody out” and on the basis of this
statement the organization defends the large number of growth options that are being given to
the women employees of the organization (Apple.com 2019). As a matter of fact it is seen
that the organization is one of the most diversified organizations of the world at the current
moment and more than 48.9% of the employees of the organization are women (Apple.com
2019). More importantly, as per the official website of the organization 52.3% of the top
management positions within the framework of the organization all over the world are being
held by women which is an indication of the initiative taken by the organization to contribute
in a positive manner towards the cause of women empowerment (Apple.com 2019). More
importantly, the organization in order to support the women employees offers extensive
leadership training, on-job training, advanced training and other kinds of programs so that
they are being to compete in an equal footing with the male employees of the organization
(Loke, Bachmann and Harp 2017). In addition to these, the organization offers upto two years
of maternity leave to the women employees, personal recreational leaves and others to ensure
the fact that the women employees of the organization are being able to manage the balance
between their personal as well as professional lives (Apple.com 2019). Ganle, Afriyie and
Segbefia (2015) are of the viewpoint that these in measures undertaken by the organization
can be seen as the initiative of the organization to offer the kind of opportunities to the
women employees of their organization through the usage of which they would be able to
maximize the full potential of their lives. Moreover, these initiatives are also likely to enable

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the women employees of the organization to perform on par with the male employees of the
organization.
As per the nature versus nurture debate, the women by virtue of environmental as well
as biological reasons are the weaker individuals and this is perhaps one of the major reasons
why they have been denied adequate amount of growth as well as developmental
opportunities (Lewis et al. 2016). However, the theory of liberal feminism seeks to repudiate
this concept and thereby states that it is possible for women to become success by virtue of
their own individual actions and also the choices that they make in their lives (Halley et al.
2018). Thus, the organization by means of offering the right kind of growth opportunities to
the women employees helps them to attain adequate level of growth by dint of their own
choices as well as actions. As a matter of fact, Kim, vice president of OS programs adequate
sums up this initiative of the organization in the words “I’m passionate about welcoming
more women into the tech industry. And thrilled they consider me a role model” (Apple.com
2019). More importantly, the cause of women empowerment taken up by the organization
and also the usage of the theory of liberal feminism serves dual purposes for the organization
under discussion here. Firstly, the extensive usage of this theory had enabled the organization
to not only enhance the level of diversity within their organization but at the same time helps
them to offer adequate amount of growth as well as development opportunities to the women
employees of the organization (Loke, Bachmann and Harp 2017). Secondly, through the
usage of this theory and also by taking up the cause of women empowerment the organization
had been able to improve its brand image in a significant manner and this in turn had enabled
the organization to attain a higher level of financial growth in the recent times (Gurung,
Partap and Choudhary 2015).

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Conclusion
To conclude, gender inequality and women empowerment are the two topics which
had formed the lacuna of various critical debates and are important from the perspective of
the growth as well as development of the entire female fraternity itself. The net result of this
is the fact that the different organizations are actively taking up the issue of gender inequality
and also the need for women empowerment as per their corporate social responsibility
activities so as to contribute in a significant manner towards the society. More importantly,
organizations like Apple and others are taking the help of different kinds of feministic
theories like liberal feminism, radical feminism and others to contribute in a significant
manner towards the cause of women empowerment and thereby help the contemporary
women to attain the right kind of growth. This is also important from the perspective of the
suppression as well as oppression that the women had been subjected to since the traditional
times. This becomes apparent from the above analysis of the manner in which the
organization Apple uses the theory of liberal feminism to not only improve the condition of
women employees in their organization but also to improve their brand image as well.

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References
Apple.com 2019. Inclusion & Diversity. [online] Available at:
https://www.apple.com/diversity/ [Accessed 30 Jan. 2019].
Ganle, J.K., Afriyie, K. and Segbefia, A.Y., 2015. Microcredit: Empowerment and
disempowerment of rural women in Ghana. World Development, 66, pp.335-345.
Gurung, M.B., Partap, U. and Choudhary, D., 2015. Empowering mountain women through
community-based high value product value chain promotion in Nepal. International Journal
of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, 11(3-4), pp.330-345.
Halley, J., Kotiswaran, P., Rebouché, R. and Shamir, H., 2018. Governance feminism: An
introduction. U of Minnesota Press.
Lewis, P., Adamson, M., Biese, I. and Kelan, E., 2016. Exploring the Emergence of Moderate
Feminism (s) in Contemporary Organizations. Gender Work & Organization.
Loke, J., Bachmann, I. and Harp, D., 2017. Co-opting feminism: media discourses on
political women and the definition of a (new) feminist identity. Media, Culture &
Society, 39(1), pp.122-132.
Ogletree, S.M., Diaz, P. and Padilla, V., 2017. What is Feminism? College Students’
Definitions and Correlates. Current Psychology, pp.1-14.
Prügl, E., 2017. Corporate social responsibility and the neoliberalization of feminism.
In Gender Equality and Responsible Business (pp. 56-65). Routledge.
Robertson, E., 2016. Get mad and get even: Liberal feminism and the second wave
undertow. Meanjin, 75(1), p.91.

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Shildrick, M., 2015. Leaky bodies and boundaries: Feminism, postmodernism and (bio)
ethics. Routledge.

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Appendix 1
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