Anchored in the theoretical foundation of gender as an institution, this paper is concerned with the complexity and embedded nature of gender inequality within organizations within the dimensions of gender order, gender regime, and gender practices. We draw upon the concept of institutional work to focus on female employees reacting to changes in gender regimes (i.e., initiatives to reduce inequality). Building on a single case study based on interviews and qualitative diary data, we explore how these female employees experience a new gender regime in their daily gender practices through cognitive and emotional processes and how this affects their investment or disinvestment into the new regime. We provide a framework that explains how the investment in the new gender regime and the engagement in maintaining or disrupting the gender regime depends on whether or not individuals on a gender practice level hold on to their fantasmic frame and justify the changed regime by adopting the emotional and cognitive habitus. We contribute by demonstrating the complex dynamics of changing gender regimes and the central role of female employees in navigating through and potentially transforming gender regime and practices.
