[00:00.00]UNIT13
[00:14.10]Sex Role Stereotypes
[00:16.51]During my career
[00:18.91]as a Canadian female teacher,
[00:20.77]I observed many instances
[00:22.96]of sex role stereotyping
[00:25.04]throughout the western culture.
[00:26.68]I was always amazed
[00:28.76]how quickly young children
[00:30.29]adopted the cultural values.
[00:31.71]The topic is one of major concerns
[00:34.45]in the western world,
[00:35.56]yet there are those people
[00:37.09]who would ask you to believe
[00:38.62]that it is not a major issue.
[00:40.15]People who wish to ignore the situation
[00:42.89]do not welcome discussions
[00:45.18]on the topic of gender bias.
[00:46.94]This type of person evokes
[00:50.11]an analogy of an ostrich
[00:51.53]that buries its head in the sand
[00:53.50]to ignore a problem by avoiding it.
[00:55.25]Although many of my comments may seem cynical,
[00:59.19]I give you assurance
[01:01.27]that they are based on my observation
[01:02.91]of western society for a number of years.
[01:05.31]It might be interesting and informative
[01:08.27] to compare the western world
[01:09.80]in this respect with eastern cultures.
[01:12.54]Many studies have been done
[01:15.38]and the breakdown of reasons examined
[01:17.68]to determine why gender roles play an important part
[01:20.63]in the selection of successful candidates
[01:22.50]for positions in many vocations.
[01:24.90]These studies have made little impact
[01:28.07]on diminishing the prevalence of candidates
[01:30.37]being selected more for their gender
[01:31.90]than their qualifications.
[01:33.43]Since the people responsible
[01:36.28]for hiring people to work with them,
[01:37.92]often hire people similar to themselves,
[01:40.65]it seems like they are looking for
[01:42.95]a clone or a duplicate of themselves.
[01:45.36]Females often become quite indignant
[01:49.19]when positions that they are well suited
[01:51.48]for are awarded to males
[01:53.23]and ambiguous reasons given to explain why.
[01:55.97]Is it any wonder that attempts
[01:58.59]to sue corporations for using unfair hiring
[02:01.33]and promotion practices are applauded?
[02:03.74]On the other hand,
[02:05.92]companies who exhibit fair hiring practices
[02:09.10]need to be commended for doing so.
[02:11.07]It has been common in the western world
[02:14.35]for people to presume that
[02:16.21]certain professions belong almost exclusively
[02:18.84]to one gender or the other.
[02:20.59]The work of an electrician,
[02:22.99]or work with electronics,
[02:24.63]or repairing of air-conditioning equipment,
[02:26.82]might be considered to be
[02:28.35]masculine fields of employment.
[02:30.10]Nursing and childcare vocations
[02:32.84]are considered feminine occupations.
[02:35.03]Aviation is another field
[02:38.31]where people would usually assume
[02:40.06]that the pilot would be male
[02:41.26]and the flight attendant would be female,
[02:43.02]a premise that many times will be invalid.
[02:46.08]It will be a major breakthrough
[02:49.50]when both genders are equally represented
[02:51.47]in the workforce especially in higher level positions.
[02:54.53]Some individuals would lead you
[02:57.60]to believe that it would
[02:59.24]result in the breakdown of society,
[03:00.66]as we know it today.
[03:01.97]At times an attempt to prevent subjective views
[03:05.26]being used to preclude only males
[03:07.33]being hired by males has been attempted.
[03:09.52]Laws or policy that attempt to rectify the situation
[03:13.57]have not been successful in diminishing the problem.
[03:16.96]An attempt to numerically control
[03:20.35]the number of positions in a corporation
[03:22.10]by using a quota system
[03:23.74]to require equal numbers of males
[03:25.71]and females to be hired usually
[03:28.34]meets with little success
[03:29.76]if the attitudes of the people
[03:31.62]doing the hiring are subjective
[03:33.92]and preclude the possibility of fair practises being used.
[03:37.85]The empirical evidence shown by the numbers
[03:41.03]makes it easy to show
[03:43.00]which companies exemplify fairness
[03:45.08]and would hinder those
[03:46.94]who only make a feeble attempt to do so.
[03:48.91]If a company does endeavour to incorporate fairness
[03:54.05]in their hiring practises,
[03:55.80]they should be eligible for commendation.
[03:58.31]A diligent attempt to choose the best person
[04:01.93]for the position regardless of their gender
[04:04.44]is only inherent in those companies
[04:07.18]that can envisage a future
[04:09.36]with the best possible work force.
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