MSc International Business LUBS 5259/5261 Cross-Cultural Management Seminar Work Week 8 Some issues of Gender Hofstedes dimension

ion of masculinity/femininity, for all the problems that it presents, at least invites us to look at sex/gender difference, and how this is differently configured in different cultures. This seminar material contains some numbers, graphs and charts, which give us some insight into how sex/gender differences are the same, and/or vary, across cultures. World Values Survey Questions First, are six charts from the World Values Survey website. This website provides a wealth of interesting information, particularly relating to questions about important social issues. It allows you to create charts using your own choice of questions and countries. Here, a variety of countries has been chosen to illustrate levels of agreement or disagreement with six statements concerning sex/gender issues. The six statements represented here are: 1. Men make better political leaders than women do 2. University is more important for a boy than a girl 3. A working mother has an equally strong relationship to her family as a fulltime mother 4. Being a housewife is just as fulfilling as having a career 5. Jobs scarce: men should have more right to a job than women 6. (This one is nothing to do with the seminar subject, but its interesting anyway) Jobs scarce: employers should give priority to (nation) people rather than immigrants There are some big differences between how people from different countries answer these questions. The position of countries on Hofstedes dimension of masculinity/femininity is surprisingly unhelpful in explaining these. Do the differences make sense of your own understanding and experience? Do you think the picture can or should change?

UNESCO Figures on Gender Differences in University Graduates by field of study The next three charts give figures for OECD countries, showing the proportions of males and females graduating in three different areas of study. The three different areas are: Humanities, Arts and Education Mathematics and Computing Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction

Born or made? Are the differences between men and women hardwired, or optional software? The World Values Survey responses show some big differences between countries in the way in which questions about sex/gender are answered (and enacted). Perhaps we might want to say that these differences are cultural? The OECD figures on gender difference in university graduates seem to be telling a somewhat different story. Certainly, there are some interesting differences between countries, and again we can invoke cultural difference to explain these. There are also, however, some remarkable consistencies, across different countries, in the patterns in which males and females choose their subjects for university study. Are these about culturally conditioned decisions, or are they about something else? There is probably enough in the above material to keep you arguing for years. However, if you need further structure, here are some questions: 1) Are the differences between men and women hardwired, or optional software? 2) Where is your country in this, and where is it going? 3) Where are you in this, and where are you going? 4) The Economist once said, there is an old saying: If you want to make your country wealthy, build roads and bridges; the Economist then added: And use them to drive girls to school. Do you agree with this? 5) Bradford, a city near Leeds (where Malcolm Chapman lives), has a large Asian population. The Asian is put in inverted commas, because the designation is problematic. In the Bradford context, it means immigrants from Pakistan (particularly from Mirpur), and their UK born children and grandchildren. Calling people who are born in the UK Asians might seem strange, but it is common usage. The Asian community in Bradford is in general Muslim. Five years ago, it was very rare to see a woman in Bradford wearing a full face veil. Now, it is very common. What of convergence and divergence, in this context?