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Gender and power at Bazooms are reflected in its management structure. In this restaurant, four men manage more than 100 employees working various shifts: 60 Bazooms girls and 40 kitchen guys. In addition, both the franchise owners and the founders are all male. This is not rare. According to Catherine MacKinnon (1980:60), countless studies have shown that “women are overwhelmingly in positions that other people manage, supervise, or administer. Even in ‘women’s jobs’ the managers are men.” As in most workplace environments, formal authority and power are concentrated in management positions at Bazooms. In everything from scheduling to paychecks, floor assignments, and breaks, managers have the last word. In this way, Bazooms girls are placed in a subordinate position. This is not an unusual finding. MacKinnon contends that as “low-prestige” workers, women are often placed in positions of dependence upon men for economic security, hiring, retention, and advancement.

In these dependent situations, a woman’s job is literally on the line all the time. One waitress whom I interviewed described management procedures for getting a worker fired at a Colorado Bazooms as follows:

All of a sudden, we would have menu tests and we were told that if we missed too many we would be fired. Now, I know I missed about twenty. These girls they wanted to fire missed less than that, I’m sure. They were fired right away because they missed some … but they didn’t say a thing to me. Or, if they really wanted to get rid of certain people, they would put up one schedule, then put a different copy up with different hours (the “real” one) after the girls left. The girls wouldn’t know, so they were fired for not showing up to their shifts.

Disciplinary action based upon “company rules” is one of management’s most common exertions of power. Before every shift, managers hold “jump start” which, in theory, is supposed to motivate the workers to “get out there and have fun.” Instead, it becomes an ideal time for management to assert authority. Each waitress is quickly checked for uniform cleanliness, “natural” yet “styled” hair, make-up, and so forth. Then the group is counseled on “proper” Bazooms girl behavior and attitude. Sometimes “pop quizzes” are given to each woman, with questions about proper Bazooms girl service and responsibilities. At other times, lectures are given reiterating rules that have been ignored or broken earlier in the week. The practice of “jump start,” at the beginning of each shift, operates in a way that makes power relations explicit….

In short, male management’s right to exercise veto power over each worker’s appearance, attitude, and so forth reflects gendered power relations at Bazooms.