Cross-Cultural Management

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|Assumptions about Gender Roles and the Implications for Women’s Representation in Management in Mainland China and New Zealand |

The area of gender roles has been debated on for over decades especially since the rise of feminism and changes in social-cultural values. This paper will discuss gender assumptions in the workplace, based on literature review from a number of sources. These include journal article, academic books and website articles provided by management scholars. The paper will draw on gender role stereotypes with regards to sex roles managerial/leadership styles, motivation and commitment .

The second section aim to discuss the implication women’s representation in management in two contrasting masculine cultures; China and New Zealand. Gender role stereotypes vary in degrees across cultural boundaries. New Zealand has a higher percentage of women in management as compared to China. Differences in traditional cultural beliefs explains why women mangers are poorly represented in China. However, gender role stereotyping is present in both societies and therefore affects women in their career achievement.

The assumption of balancing home and work commitment is usually associated more with women than men. There is the common perception that suggests that men and women have difference in their level of work/career commitment. It is assumed that women prefer to fulfil their prescribed obligations to stay at home, look after their children and undertake other domestic responsibilities. As a result, there commitment to their jobs is suspect. Whereas, men naturally adopt the breadwinner mentality so that they can provide for their family . Thus, tend to have higher commitment to their careers. Men looking after children is usually viewed as positive, while with women it prohibits them...