Cultural Differences in Personalities

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Cultural Differences in Personalities

Introduction

People in many cultures grow up with specific teachings regarding gender roles and stereotypes that are generally assumed as established way of behaving or act by males and females (Cook & Cusack, 2011). In order to discuss gender messages, it is also important to understand the concept of stereotyping that can be defined as a widespread preconception that arose from people ascribing certain attributes, characteristics, roles, because of their affiliation with a particular social group. In fact, gender stereotypes are related to the social and cultural roles assigned to men and women that are based on physical differences in terms of their genders.

Cultural differences are very important in international business because among different countries, there are many cultures which must be understood and treated in the best practice by employers wishing to go into business abroad (Basu, 2008). For this, it is necessary to understand the social, religious and social systems, language, education and culture at work. Culture, as a concept, is one of the most complex ideas in academic use today. It is defined and applied in various and often incompatible ways and is the site of significant disagreement between academic disciplines regarding the fundamental character of human social life and the manner in which it is to be studied. This paper aims to examine the gender differences in United States and its comparison to gender difference in India.

Discussion

Attributes and behavior that is associated with men or women, and relationship between men and women are shaped by Culture. In other words, culture shapes gender. Culture shapes genders identities and gender relations because, it does not only shapes daily life of individual but also shape overall society. The function of Gender (like ethnicity or race) is to organize principles for community (Eagly, 2000). Culture gives meaning to being female or male. For example, division of labor is according to gender. In western societies, a clear pattern of “women's work” and “men's work” is practicing. However, some societies are against to “women's work”. The explanations and patterns create the difference among cultures of different societies.

Gender Differences

Researchers have found that in many cultures, images presented to children, male and female genders are represented in a stereotypical way and asymmetric against girls whether on television, cartoons, advertisements, or in children's books. It can be seen in many children books that most often girls are represented with a passive or inside role. In other words, it is portrayed they are waiting for Prince Charming to come and rescue them. The boys, however, are shown as active, assertive and live with a lot of things outside the house (Cook & Cusack, 2011). It is a fact that children have limited scope and experience in their circle that makes them vulnerable to the influence of gender messages or stereotypes (Doka & Martin, 1999). The basic example of genders message is to associate babies with colors. For example, it can be seen in almost every culture of the world ...