Judith Hendricks

Judith Hendricks is a Research Associate at the Institute of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Duisburg-Essen, working at the Chair of Prof. Karen Shire since 2017. She teaches various seminars on gender, organizations, and military sociology while conducting research primarily focused on gender dynamics in organizational settings.

Dr. Hendricks completed her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Sociology at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Her Master's thesis examined 'On the situation of female leaders in the German Armed Forces,' which established the foundation for her ongoing research interests.

Her research primarily focuses on gender dynamics within organizational structures, with particular emphasis on military institutions and healthcare settings. Through a neo-institutional lens, she examines how organizational structures maintain or challenge gender inequalities, especially regarding leadership positions. Her work integrates gender perspectives into health literacy research, exploring how gender influences health outcomes and access to healthcare services. Dr. Hendricks employs qualitative and mixed-methods approaches to investigate the complex interplay between institutional frameworks and individual agency in shaping gendered experiences at work.

Her recent publications reveal a consistent focus on gender differentiation processes within highly institutionalized organizations like the military and healthcare systems. She examines how formal equality policies often coexist with persistent gender inequalities through organizational decoupling mechanisms. Her work bridges organizational sociology with gender studies, contributing to theoretical understandings of how gender operates within institutional contexts while providing empirical insights into specific organizational settings.

• Deputy Equal Opportunities Officer for the Faculty of Social Sciences (since 2021)
• Board member of the Essen Center for Gender Studies (2018-2020)
• Representative of academic staff at the Institute of Sociology (2017-2019)

Her teaching portfolio includes seminars on 'Gender in the Military,' 'Organizational Change,' 'Neo-Institutionalism,' and 'Gender and Work.' She has presented her research at numerous national and international conferences including the SAMF Annual Conference, Workshop on New Institutionalism at IE UNIVERSITY Madrid, and Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education, focusing on gender equality, organizational sociology, and health literacy.