The Algebra of Inequality: A Feminist Systems Model of Structural Subordination and Justificatory Feedback in Organizations

ABSTRACT

Gender inequality in organizations is reproduced not only through discrete discriminatory decisions. It also persists when arrangements generate disadvantage in one cycle and the resulting distribution is carried into the next. This conceptual article develops a feminist systems model that separates these roles: recurrent structural subordination ( S _t ) and justificatory feedback ( C _j , _t ) on inherited inequality, I _t ₊₁ =  S _t  +  C _j , _t I _t . Under constant parameters, the model distinguishes a positive stationary inequality level when 0 ≤  C _j  < 1 and S  > 0, linear accumulation when C _j  = 1, and amplification when C _j  > 1. For stipulated equal proportional shifts, feedback has greater leverage above C _j  = 0.5 locally and above 1/(2– δ ) for finite reductions; adjustment after structural reform slows as C _j approaches one; and a single cross‐section cannot identify S and C _j . The model is bounded and conceptual, not a measurement or prediction model, and specifies the assumptions needed for empirical evaluation.