Culture is highly visible and is emphasized in people’s daily life. Culture plays a fundamental role in how it shapes an individual’s way of thinking, behaving, feeling and reacting which then molds individual values and beliefs (Pennsylvania State University, 2020). If we do not accept the differences of individuals, it can lead to bigger challenges. Such challenges are real and are seen daily such as gender inequality which has been a continuing challenge from culture to culture.
When talking about gender inequality outside of the workplace, we can see that culture establishes the basic norm for how people should behave. The female role and male role vary across different cultures and countries. For example, Wahabi Islam, men must obey Allah, and women must obey the men (R. T. Moran; N. R. Abramson; S. V. Moran, 2014, p. 142). Another example from the Wall Street Journal wrote about a Saudi woman driving and then was surrounded by police officers because she violated the costumed and the culture (R. T. Moran; N. R. Abramson; S. V. Moran, 2014, p. 146). The last example is from a survey taken in 2009, indicated that 67 percent of female respondents believe that a woman deserves to beat by her husband if she speaks to another man (R. T. Moran; N. R. Abramson; S. V. Moran, 2014, p. 142). As we can see, culture can shape a person’s behavior, value, and belief at which then shapes into different forms of stereotypes transforming into the workplace.
In a recent survey, there are just about the same number of female workers as there is a male worker employed in the workforce (R. T. Moran; N. R. Abramson; S. V. Moran, 2014, p. 146). So why is there still a significant difference in inequality between men and worm in the workforce? Some of the stereotypes that are present in the workplace correlate with the culture of society. An example would be unequal pay; the average women earn 49 cents compared to every $1 man earn because women are less likely to be in a higher paying position. Also, research shows that women will tend to leave the workforce for at least a year, which is twice the rate of men to raise a family or other family obligations (Wilson, 2019). Another issue is that women are promoted less often than men, although, in the United States, females earn almost 60 percent of all University degrees (R. T. Moran; N. R. Abramson; S. V. Moran, 2014, p. 146). It is also true that women make up less than 5 percent of CEOs (Wilson, 2019). The reason for this is because there is a lack of female role models and mentoring programs in the workplace. Without support for female workers, there is lower self-esteem, self-confidence and simply feeling unattainable to be promoted or even asking to be paid for what they are worth (Wilson, 2019).
Although there are legal laws that prohibit discrimination against another group of people, inequality is still very visible and forever continuing. Not only do have to be aware of gender inequality but also change the culture of ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is the tendency to think the characteristics of one’s group or race is superior to those of other groups or race (Pennsylvania State University, 2020). This can be done by changing and developing new values in the younger generations to drive the behaviors of fairness, equality, and respect. All directing to the change of perspectives at a macro level and micro level within the different cultures.
References
Pennsylvania State University. (2020, January 21). Leadership in a global context–OLEAD410. Retrieved from Lesson 2: Introduction to culture, Penn State World Campus, The Pennsylvania State University: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2041071/modules/items/27977824
T. Moran; N. R. Abramson; S. V. Moran. (2014). In Managing cultural differences (9th ed.). Oxford: Routledge.
Wilson, J. (2019, February 25). As you sow. Retrieved from 5 Top issues Fueling Gender Inequality in the workplace: https://www.asyousow.org/blog/gender-equality-workplace-issues