Return to Home Page The Impact of Culture on Women in the Workforce in the USA, Mexico, and Japan Abstract: Women have always worked. What is different today is that more and more women around the world are entering the male dominated wage-earning work force. This requires a change in the workplace cultures which are influenced by the surrounding societal culture. This paper examines how the cultures shape the challenges women face in the workforce in the USA, Mexico and Japan. Each of Geert Hofstede’s Four Cultural Dimensions are used to evaluate the cultures of these countries, then women’s non-wage earning and wage-earning roles are examined as well as the cultural rationale for the challenges women face in each role. The cultural impact of women working outside the home is touched on and probable outcomes for each country’s women in terms of trends, culture and each country’s capability to change and adapt are discussed. Introduction Women have always worked. What is different today is that more and more women around the world are entering the male dominated wage-earning work force. This requires a change in the workplace cultures which are influenced by the surrounding societal culture. This paper examines how the cultures shape the challenges women face in the workforce in the USA, Mexico and Japan. Hofstede’s Four Dimensions of Culture and their implications One way to evaluate a culture is to look at Geert Hofstede’s Four Dimensions of Culture and evaluate their implications for workstyles in each of the countries. The first dimension is that of Power Distance. “Power distance is the measure of the interpersonal power or influence between B(oss) and S(ubordinate) as perceived by the least powerful of the two” (Hofstede 98). The United states has a low power distance index of 40 which is seen in the American habit of minimizing the differences in status at work. Mexico, however, has the high power index of 81. One manifestation of this is machismo: “a cult of virility. The chief characteristics of this cult are exaggerated aggressiveness and intransigence in male-to-male interpersonal relationships and arrogance and sexual aggression in male-to-female relationships” (Stevens 9). Japan’s medium power distance index of 54 is misleading. While the Japanese appear to work as equals in groups, they are actually extremely status conscious and very aggressive. According to Edward and Mildred Hall, "The reason the West doesn't do better in competition with Japan is that it is competing with a society that doesn't conduct business, but rather wages business with the intensity and concentration with which it might wage war" (43). The country’s Power Distance index determines the management style used. Countries which have a low power distance, such as the USA, tend to use a consultative management style since the employees are not intimidated by their bosses. Workers and their bosses are seen as interdependent and businesses tend to have flatter organizational pyramids. Countries like Mexico which have a high power index tend to use an autocratic management style. Tall organizational pyramids and great centralization are the norm. In Japan, which rated 54, the management style stresses teamwork, loyalty and relies on the use of ringi (consensus decision-making) although the relative status between individuals remains extremely important (Hofstede 102). The second cultural dimension, Uncertainty Avoidance, refers to the extent to which a culture is threatened by ambiguous situations and its willingness to take risks. The United States, the “melting pot,” scored a low 46 in this category meaning it has a greater tolerance for change and risk. This is reflected in the American love of challenges and the workers’ pattern of changing employers as a means to climb the corporate ladder. The custom of life long employment in Japan is a good indicator of its high UAI score of 92. This tendency toward risk avoidance helps explain why penetrating the Japanese culture is so difficult for foreigners and women and why ringi is necessary. "Group decision-making can be seen as a way of avoiding risk for the individual" (Hofstede 168). In Mexico, which scored 82, this need to reduce risk is seen in the strict adherence to rules, and strong hierarchy in organizations, as well as in the people's attitude toward work. “Men are the providers: they put up with the hazards and treachery of the outside world in order to provide for their families, and expect to be rewarded at home for their efforts.” (McKinnis 6) The high UAI ratings of Mexico and Japan, in part, explain why it has been so difficult for women to penetrate the business world in those countries. "On the cultural level, tendencies toward rigidity, and dogmatism, intolerance of differences of opinions, traditionalism, superstition, racism, and ethnocentrism all relate to a norm for (in)tolerance of ambiguity rather than to the norm for dependence on authority" (Hofstede 155). The third cultural dimension, Individualism, refers to the "emotional (in)dependence on groups, organizations, or other collectives" (Hofstede 221).The United States is a country with a strong tradition of the "rugged individual" as portrayed in the legendary characters of the wild west: Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, Davey Crockett, Daniel Boone and others. It is reflected in the cry for independence “No taxation without representation!” This is supported by the USA’s score of 91, the highest score in individualism. Japan, on the other hand, only scored a 46 for individualism. It is know for being a homogenous society and conformity is stressed. It is interesting to note that one of the misgivings Japanese men have when it comes to hiring women is that they "lack loyalty to the groups to which they belong. They are extremely egotistical and individualistic" (Chira 27). Mexico scored 30, even lower than Japan. Again, strict adherence to the Catholic Church's teachings combined with the focus on the family as the most important thing in people's lives combine to create a climate where individualism is discouraged. According to Hofstede, "In low individualism cultures one does not trust a 'somebody'--one only trusts 'us'" (229). This is evident in the Japanese distrust of foreigners, and in the need of both the Mexican and the Japanese to form long term relationships before they choose to do business with people. Hofstede's last cultural dimension, Masculinity, refers to the society's dominant values in acceptance of sex based role differences. All three countries are on the high side of masculinity--USA: 62 medium high; Mexico: 69 high; Japan: 95 highest. These scores reflect the level of acceptance of working women in the societies; the higher the score the "lower the share of professional and technical women in the culture" (171). One more thing Hofstede has to say on the subject: "Men in more masculine countries do not hope to see more women in leading positions" (309.) Non-wage-earning Jobs: Wife and Mother In almost all societies, women have less power than men, receive less for their work, and have less control over household resources, and in many countries they receive less education...Women are disproportionately represented among unpaid family workers and in the informal sector. (World Development 43) In the United States, the tradition has been for women to influence the work force through their roles as wives and mothers. We even have a saying, “Behind every great man is a great woman.” By this we mean that the woman’s work is invisible except through her husband’s and sons’ successes. This cultural outlook was imported from England where, according to Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, this tradition was so strong that it was later codified into English law. William Blackstone's commentaries on the Laws of England sum up the thinking: By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law; that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband; under whose wing, protection, and cover, she performs everything. (7) Of course, this is an English law which is not in effect in the USA, but its impact is still felt in the cultural expectations of what a wife is. Today, the USA appears to be undergoing a paradigm shift, which is slowly allowing women to compete equally with men in the workforce. This shift may have started during WWI when women had to take the jobs men left behind when they went to war. (Nubson 18-19) The women found they could do the jobs as well as the men and liked the power and social acclaim that came with wage-earning. ( Chafe 261) Now we seem to have both the old and new values competing with each other. The new “women-as-equals” value is slowly replacing the old “barefoot and pregnant” value. In Mexico, women are expected to procreate, serve, and not question the man’s authority. According to Evelyn P. Stevens, the stereotype of the ideal woman, the “real woman” include the following characteristics: “semidivinity, moral superiority, and spiritual strength...an infinite capacity for humility and sacrifice. No self-denial is too great for the Latin American woman, no limit can be divined to her vast store of patience with the men of her world” (94). To this day, in some rural areas of Mexico, older women, especially if they are not educated and have never worked outside the home, “still felt they couldn’t take messages for their menfolk, ask them their salaries, or know where they were going or with whom or when they could be expected to return, or even complain about being hit and criticized” (Gladwin and Thompson 718). According to Liza Dalby, marriage in Japan is not a romantic quest for a soul mate, it is simply “the appropriate thing to do when one reaches a certain age....it is one of the most important steps into adulthood in Japan” (170). The pressure to marry is evident in “one Japanese saying [which] compares women with Christmas cakes, unwanted after the 25th. After a woman has passed that age unwed, parents frequently bring in professional match-makers. Fewer than 2% of women remain spinsters ” (Japanese Women). In Japan women appear to be subservient and certainly are regarded by their men as having a lower status but, when compared to most Mexican women and many American women, they have a great deal of power within the family. As a wife and mother, a Japanese woman attains the highest possible social approbation. As is well known, a Japanese husband usually hands his paycheck over to his wife, who will be responsible for planning the family budget. She doles out a weekly allowance for his personal expenses. The domestic realm may be a limited one, but within it the Japanese wife is as sure of herself and as confident of her authority as any company president. The outside world of her husband's work only rarely impinges upon her world, and she is not expected to be competent in the arts of entertaining. More becoming to her is a retiring modesty. (Dalby 171) This arrangement seems to suit most men. As one said, " 'Generally speaking, I think the leadership of households...is taken by wives. Things go best when the husband is swimming in the palm of his wife's hand'" (Chira F27). Many Japanese women feel they actually have it better than their men. One reason for this is that due to smaller families and modern appliances, they have more leisure time than the men so they “travel, and take classes, play tennis, read books and often end up more worldly and sophisticated and adventurous than their husbands" (Kristof A1). This situation is significant because it has created the “narita divorce” in which newly weds go overseas for their honeymoon and the husband, who has never traveled out of Japan, is intimidated by the surroundings while the wife, who has already taken several foreign trips with girlfriends, is ready to explore. The new bride finds she is unhappy with her new groom so when they return to Narita Airport just outside of Tokyo, she leaves him (A1). Although divorce is uncommon in Japan, it is increasing. While most divorces are mutually agreed on, 60% are filed by the women. This is a strong statement since “the woman receives no settlement at all in about half of the divorces....Under Japanese law, women do not have any claim on household property” (Japanese Women 20). As the rate of divorce increases, so do the number of women who enter the workforce wanting and needing serious careers. Those women who do not go for the “narita divorce” usually become mothers early in the marriage and then they focus their efforts on raising their children. They become kyoiko-mama or “education-mama,” doing everything possible to help their children get the best grades including sending them to after-school classes and hiring private tutors. (Garfinkel 58-59) Their goal is to get their sons into the top school, Tokyo University (Todai) ,since its graduates go on to become the most powerful men in Japan. (E. and M. Hall 51). Women’s Traditional Wage-earning Jobs Worldwide, women make up 50 percent of the population. They do two-thirds of the world's work, paid and unpaid. Yet they earn between 5 and 10 percent of the world's wages and own only 1 percent of the world's property. Women in the less developed countries put almost all of their earnings into the needs of their families. (Kelly 28) Wage-earning jobs traditionally open to women have tended to be reflections of or extensions of women’s work in the home. In the USA, these jobs have been servant, laundress, cook, nanny, midwife, teacher. In some parts of rural Mexico these also included traditional folk art such as the selling of clay figures. In addition, Mexican women could function in the roles of curandera (healer) and bruja (witch). These last two roles generally gave them more personal power than economic power. (Issac) The Japanese women had another option entirely different from anything found in the two western countries: the geisha. Geishas are not prostitutes; they are professional artists, dancers, musicians, singers, who act as hosts at banquets engaging the men in witty conversation and ensuring that they have an enjoyable evening. (174). According to Liza Dalby, who studied in Kyoto to become a geisha, "What attracts a woman...to this profession is, above all, the conscious and deliberate choice to make art her life...Whatever is special about geisha and imbues them with a certain mystique arises because of their world of art and discipline." (217) Geisha do not marry; they live with other geisha who become ritual mothers and sisters. And they do not compete with wives for the attentions of the men. Japanese women see the roles of wives and geisha as complementary: “a feminine division of labor, where neither side need be jealous because one identity does not overlap with the other." (Dalby 169). The wives take care of the men within the home and the geisha take care of the men socially. Women in Non-Traditional Wage-earning Jobs In the United States, theoretically, a woman is just as likely as a man to get hired and promoted but many women have found that there is a "glass ceiling" which limits their progress. "...Most women are assigned to shorter entry career ladders and have less upward mobility than men. This is a common practice regardless of women's qualifications" (Kalatari 400). Only 3% are at the senior level, where the power is. (Nubson 18) The majority are holding low paying "women's jobs" which are generally clerical, non-commission sales, and service. (Chafe 266) American women also fare worse than men in pay even when all the factors are equal. On the average, women earn $10,000 - $15,000 less per year than do men for the same jobs and the disparity increases as the level of education increases. (DiMona 68) According to Behrooz Kalatari, several major studies have explained the discrepancy. "Some common and prevalent causes such as job segregation, socialization, job evaluation, market forces, and discrimination, have been identified by many studies as being the major causes of the wage gap" (398). In Mexico, many women are still working the traditional “women’s jobs”. Over 50 percent are office workers, shopkeepers, housekeepers, teachers or in sales. (Hilbrert 4) Those in management tend to be in the same general areas. The salary gaps are wide, too. The discrepancies begin when the women are hired and poor evaluations are used to justify the discrimination. (Barnhart) "In some management posts women earn $600 to $1,200 US dollars (at least) less a month than a man for no reason related to skill level. The most frequently used arguments to justify salary differences are that men... are more free to travel and can devote more time to the job” (Hilbrert 6). This thinking is based on the cultural assumption that women are tied to the home and children and so cannot travel and work long hours. According to “Japanese Women: A World Apart”, the Japanese women are where American women were 30 years ago due to traditional attitudes at home and at work. (20) Only 2.3 percent of the women are section chiefs, 6.4 percent are in low-management and 1.2 percent are in a senior company position. (Chaney 45). Part of the Japanese pattern is for women to quit work when they marry or have a child and then as many as 70% of them return to work part-time in their 40s once the children are established. This means they can never reach the top since the system is designed to reward seniority which women give up to have families. (“Japanese Women”) There is also the tradition of the “office lady” who pours tea, greets visitors, run errands and makes copies and does other routine clerical work. Japanese companies are often patriarical and this results in situations that Americans find distinctly odd. For example, as late as 1985, “a male division manager of a large auto company found himself on his knees, bowing apologies to the parents of a female employee who had been jilted by a man in his division. The manager considered himself culpable for his male employee's behavior, and answerable to his female employee's family. What would be considered a gross invasion of privacy in the United States was an appropriate managerial response in Japan" (Chira F27). On the paycheck front, Japanese women are not faring very well. They average half of what men earn. (“Japanese women”). Many are encouraged to limit their earnings by keeping them under $13,000 per year so they will not have to pay income taxes on the money. (Koretz) Language: His and Hers The Whorf hypothesis states that, “Language largely determines the way in which we understand ... reality.” For example, in English we only have one word for snow, while the Eskimos whose survival depends on a keen awareness of what each type of snow forecasts, have many words for the different types of snow: fluffy snow; wet, sticky snow, etc. We have much less invested in studying the different types of snow so it is generic for us: no matter what it looks like, its just snow. This same concept applies to the way the sexes relate to each other. Japanese women for example, feel humiliated by sexual harassment, but their culture is geared toward group functioning so they do not have the vocabulary to express their feelings clearly about the issue. And, in part, because they do not have the language, Japanese men perceive sexual harassment as a labor problem or personal matter rather than a human rights issue. (Fic) According to Barbara Westbrook Eakins and R. Gene Eakins, “Some theorists maintain that power is the strongest organizing concept by which to explain some sex differences in conversation. Female and male behaviors are seen as paralleling the differences between superior and subordinate relationships.” One study found that men take more speaking turns, speak longer per turn, and interrupt more often. What is truly interesting is that when the sexes were segregated the same pattern emerged: those with higher rank or more power dominated the conversations. ( 23) If language shapes the way we perceive the world, then it can also be used to reflect the power differences between men and women. One theory is that because men occupy superior positions of power in our culture, males have a claim on stronger means of expressing feeling. Firestone observes: ‘As for the double standard about cursing: A man is allowed to blaspheme the world because it belongs to him to damn--but the same curse out of the mouth of a woman or a minor i.e., an incomplete ‘man’ to whom the world does not yet belong, is considered presumptuous, and thus an impropriety or worse.’ (B. and R. Eakins 23) The English language has dichotomies built into it: male-female, good-bad, hot-cold. It promotes thinking in terms of extremes rather than in terms of a continuum and promotes criticalness rather than neutrality or positiveness. (Stewart and Bennett 52) This in turn affects the way Americans think about men and women--as opposites, which is inaccurate. The following study illustrates the unconscious influence of the language in the way people perceive the sexes. A group of psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers were asked to check off on a list of bipolar traits, terms (such as ambitious-not ambitious, dependent-not dependent) that characterized mature, socially competent people. The terms checked for healthy males tended to be chosen for healthy adults, whereas those for healthy females were significantly different from those selected for healthy adults. The implication seemed to be that women were not healthy adults. As Estelle Ramey quipped, ‘a woman has a choice. She can be a normal woman or a mature adult!’ (B. and R. Eakins 5) An example of the power differences found in the use of language in Mexico is “the tradition, surviving from the days of courtly love, of the piropo, literally the pyrope, the carbuncle, the gem: a well-turned phrase expressing admiration.” Here is an example of an early piropo. “Oh, princess and universal lady of Toboso! Does not your magnaminous heart soften to see, in the flesh, on his knees before your sublime presence this knight errant.”--Miguel de Cervantes Sayavedro 1605. Today, the piropo is less gallant. It blurs the line between where a compliment ends and sexual harassment begins. (Otis ) A typical piropo today would be: “!Ay, que curvas, y yo sin frenos!” (Oh, what curves, and I without brakes!). This use of the piropo is an example of the attitude promoted by machismo. A look at the Japanese alphabet is instructive in indicating the relationship between men and women in Japan. “The ideogram for 'man' combines a rice-paddy with a pair of sturdy legs, the symbol for power. That for 'woman' represents a kneeling, subservient figure. The 'woman' character thrice repeated means 'noisy'; combined with the symbol for 'force', it means 'evil' " (Japanese Women 20). In addition to this, the Japanese "have elaborate systems of second-person singular (you) words that indicate the status of the speaker relative to the listener" (Stewart and Bennett 49). This affects the female's status and explains why Japanese men literally don't know what to say to American women--they first have to figure out their relative status. (Hebard) They are generally considered to be of higher status than Japanese women, but how much higher depends on the situation. Here are other relevant points: “Women are brought up to speak a form of Japanese far fuller of honorifics and intimations of the speaker's inferior status than that used by men. The character '-ko' which terminates virtually every woman's name (as in Michiko, Akiko, Taeko, Hiroko, Mariko, or Keiko) means 'child' ” (Japanese Women 20). Having one’s name indicate that one is a child definitely indicates one's status in the culture. In addition, married women are legally required to share the same last name as their husbands. This usually means that she takes on his name and cannot use her maiden name professionally as many American women do. (Kinoshita) Speech patterns truly are culturally shaped. What is appropriate speech for Japanese men is totally inappropriate for Japanese women yet is very similar to appropriate speech for American women. On a continuum of communication styles, American men are at one end, Japanese women are at the other end, and Japanese men and American women fall close together in between. Like American women, Japanese men tend to be supportive, respectful, tactful, and indirect in their communication styles. And they express themselves with feeling as well as facts. (Hebard) Sexual harassment: About Power not Sex An interesting thing about sexual harassment is that many people still think the issue is about sex when it is actually about power. Many men, especially in more masculine cultures, do not see it as inappropriate behavior. Many women, however, do, as a discussion among college students at the Technological Institute of Higher Education of Monterrey (ITESM) in Monterrey, Mexico illustrates: "Virtually all the women understood the definition of sexual harassment as abuse of power” (Otis). Many men use it as a tool to exercise power or to “take away” a woman’s power, to “put her in her place.” In the United States women have long fought against this way of thinking by changing the language (policemen are now police officers, waiters and waitresses are now wait persons, etc.), and working to pass laws which require equal pay for equal work and forbid discrimination based on sex. The Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 have improved things in the last thirty years, but there is a gap between what actually happens in the work place and the official stance. For example, while employers can no longer specify the sex of a worker as part of the job requirement, there are so called "women's jobs" such as personal services and clerical work which are filled almost exclusively by women. (Chafe 266). As a job becomes a "woman's job", the pay rate tends to be down scaled. Sexual harassment still occurs in the USA, but the more blatant forms are becoming more rare. Companies are liable for sexual harassment lawsuits so they are educating their employees on what is appropriate and what is inappropriate behavior. Although there are multiple laws to protect women in Mexico, they have not helped the situation much. In 1917 the new constitution guaranteed equal pay for equal work. In 1922 a penal-code law was passed to protect women in cases of sexual abuse. In 1974 an equal rights amendment came into effect. Yet, women are still experiencing discrimination in the workforce. According to Pia Hilbrert, sexual harassment is more frequently reported in positions where the women have little power and more frequently in the government positions than in the private sector. Here are some examples of typical harassment : women are routinely required to undergo urine tests for pregnancy when applying for jobs, paid less than men for the same positions even when they are equally qualified, and clients who insist on speaking to the man in charge rather than to the woman in charge. Also, women are excluded from meetings and told it’s because the men don’t want to offend them with their bad language and drinking, neither of which is acceptable behavior in females. When sexual harassment occurs, "The usual male argument is 'she provoked it.' The usual female response is to feel shame.” The women don’t want the males in their family to know about the situation for fear (a justified fear) of being accused of “asking for it.” They also don’t get much support from other women who often make the same accusation. (Hilbrert). Underlying all this is the cultural definition of the woman’s role. She is first and always considered to be a mother or potential mother and so she is not taken seriously in the workplace because her real job is to have children. (Hilbrert). In Japan, too, the culture defines the woman almost exclusively as wife and mother, and the discrimination is more blatant than in either the USA or Mexico mostly because “the concept of sexual harassment has a short history in Japan. No term for such conduct even existed until 1989, when the media coined the loan phrase seku hara in reporting on the phenomenon abroad." (Fic) As noted by Hofstede, the Japanese culture values duty and privilege based on rank as well as group harmony so women find it difficult to fight sexual harassment. The price for protesting is to be ostracized for disturbing the harmony. (Fic) And this ostracizing would be much more painful for a Japanese than for an American since they are so group oriented. So the discrimination continues: “sexual harassment, withholding paychecks, and abrogating contracts are common treatment toward women, even at the managerial level.” (Hebard) Women are asked inappropriate questions during interviews. "Are you still a virgin?" "What color is your underwear?" (Fic) "But that's a minor infraction compared to the male company doctor who insisted that the woman strip naked for a required eye exam and a chest X-ray and then displayed clearly unmedical interest in the color of her pubic hair" (Gordon and Crowly). The workplace is used as a match-making center. "Want ads in Japan are as specific as personal ads in the United States: they often are divided into categories by sex, require applicants to send photos and often specify that applicants be younger than 35." (Reitman ) Japanese companies take things a step further. Since the companies require the men to work such long hours, the men have no time or energy to look for a wife so the companies create a “bridal pool” of office ladies and it is not unusual for a boss to introduce prospective marriage partners to each other. (Fic) Three characteristics of corporate culture which allows sexual harassment to continue are : focus on internal harmony (don’t rock the boat), the need (for men) to save face (women’s face is lost when they are sexually harassed), and denial. The social culture backs up the corporate cultures by perpetuating the idea that women are subordinate. As in Mexico, "The male fails to see that he is a human rights abuser. If informed so, he may not care much; his priority is being a good Japanese man who acts appropriately...given his station." (Fic) Still, there is still a sluggish if ineffectual move to improve things. In 1985 the Equal Opportunity Employment law was passed. Unfortunately, “the law does not require employers to guarantee women equal treatment. It commits them to 'strive towards' it." (Japanese Women) Even more unfortunate is that it actually mandates discrimination by limiting overtime for women. While professional women are exempt, most other women are not allowed to work between 10 pm and 5 am nor can they work over 24 hours overtime per month. This can seriously hamper women who are trying to get promoted by proving their loyalty which is usually done by working overtime. (Japanese Women). Inadequate Support: Child care and Housework "Although women work fewer hours on average in market activities than men, this difference is more than offset by their greater hours of effort in household activities. In almost every country, women are responsible for a disproportionate share of work within the household. (World Development 44) While the society in the United States, for the most part, approves of working women (especially if there is economic need but also for self-fulfillment), women who work outside the house still do most of the chores at home and spend more time taking care of the children than do men. According to Lisa DiMona and Constance Herndon, when a working couple have no children, on work days the woman spends, on the average, over half an hour more per day on chores than does the man. On her days off she spends almost an hour more per day on chores than he does. (148) When the couple has children, the woman's work load increases more than the man's. The woman spends about half an hour more per day (work days and days off) on chores than does her partner and on work days she also spends over an hour more with the children than does her mate. While both spend more time with their youngsters on their days off, the woman devotes over two more hours to the offspring than her mate. (DiMona and Herndon 148) An interesting note: as of 1991, 20 percent of fathers who work full-time take care of their children under the age of 5 while the mothers work outside the house. Only 56% of unemployed fathers take care of their preschoolers when the mother works. (DiMona and Herndon 149) This indicates that taking care of the children is still primarily the woman's responsibility. Although there are some excellent day care centers available to U.S. parents, there have also been scandals associated with them in recent years which increases the parents' reluctance to use them. However, many working women have no alternative other than to let the kids fend for themselves. In Mexico, the culture approves of women working outside the house only if it is economically necessary in which case her wage-earning work is considered to be part of her service to the family. This is especially true if she works in the family business. “They often spend more hours in the family business than the men, but the business is still called Hermanos Coyotl" (Gladwin and Thompson). She is still responsible for all her normal household duties and cannot expect any help from her macho husband. If she has children, she will tend to leave them with relatives or neighbors. The government-run child care-centers are not much help as they have waiting lists of several years. (Reitman B1). The Japanese culture provides virtually no social support for career women who must juggle work, household chores, and husband and child care. The entire society is geared to support the traditional woman’s roles or at best the “quasi-career” woman. The 20,000 day-care centers in Japan are only open from nine till five making them useless for an executive woman who must work overtime and commute. They also carry a social stigma. (Japanese Women) Finding someone to care for the children after those hours is very difficult. (Kinoshita). The husbands of these women do not help with the children and chores. They live “ the 7-11 life style--hurtling out of the house at 7 each morning to dash for work, and returning exhausted at 11 each night" (Kristof). This makes them unavailable to help. In addition, as in the USA and Mexico, the men see the care of the house and children as women’s work. (Chira). However, they take this idea further than western men. "It would be difficult to find a group of people anywhere in the world so helpless in the house as Japanese men" (Kristof). One woman even had to dress her late husband like a child, he was that helpless. “ Even if more husbands wanted to help look after their children (and a recent survey found a mere 10% of male undergraduates thought men ought to help around the house), they would find it hard to do. Japan is a conformist society, and a male office worker courts unpopularity if he declines to spend noisy drinking evenings with colleges and clients." (Japanese Women) Cultural impact of women working outside the home “The differences between men and women in the allocation of effort affect the distribution of power withing the household. Where women earn little in the cash economy, they have less say in the allocation of family income and in strategic household decisions....The evidence shows that this distribution has detrimental effects on children, especially daughters.” (World Development 44) The increasing numbers of women breaking out of the traditional roles and working outside of the house is causing a redistribution of power between the sexes and as well as some changes in their cultures. These range from an increase in the standard of living of families to the breakups of those families. In the USA, where once it was a "symbol of success for a man to 'provide' for his family," while the wife stayed home, it is now considered a necessity to have both partners working to maintain a higher standard of living. (Chafe 259) It is estimated that by the year 2000, 47 percent of those working will be women, many of these with children under the age of six. (Kalatari 397) Since divorce, separation, abandonment and unmarried motherhood is now so prevalent in the U. S., female-headed households have increased and the economic inequalities between the sexes is impacting the children deeply. "A child born into a family with no father present had a one-in-three chance of being poor; if the family was headed by a man alone, the chances improved to one in ten; and if both parents were present, the chances were only one in nineteen." (Chafe 267) As the figures clearly show, working women are putting in a lot of hours both at home and on the job. Women still feel pressure to perform all their roles perfectly causing the "Superwoman syndrome" and a great deal of stress. This causes women to pressure their men to do more of the household chores thus creating a change in the view of the division of jobs based on sex roles. Since day care is so costly, many women, especially single women, are unable to afford it and simply have their children take care of themselves while they work. Usually kids under the age of six are not left alone, but as soon as they start first grade, 1.1 percent of the children are given keys. By the time the youngsters reach the age of 11, 10.9% of them are on their own. The number almost doubles to 20.2 percent by the time the kids reach 14. This is causing concern in the society that these kids are getting into trouble without adult supervision to keep them away from drugs and other dangers. There are cries for the mothers to quit their jobs and stay home with the kids, but no cry for the fathers to quit their jobs and stay home with the kids. Juggling responsibilities at home and at work requires flexibility which many women do not find in the work place. In addition, women are facing career advancement and corporate culture issues such as " 'exclusion from old boy network', absence of mentors, and 'hitting the glass ceiling'" ( Smith 28). Their response, often, is to create their own jobs by starting their own businesses so they can set their own rules. It is clear that working women change the balance of power between men and women; often couples cannot navigate the changes in the relationships which then result in separation or divorce. In Mexico, this is especially true if the woman earns more than the man. Spousal abuse, as a means of establishing male dominance, is known to increase in neighborhoods when the main breadwinners are the women who work in the maquiladoras. (Nevaer 52) According to McKinnis and Natella, "Men tend to be very jealous of their working wives and fear humiliation. They also fear that their wives may become attracted to others and become less dependent on them economically and intellectually. Most marital problems reported for middle-class families tend to stem from the professional interests of the wives more than philandering." The society condones the man’s unfaithfulness but not the woman’s independence which many men interpret as female unfaithfulness. Working affects women, not only in their marital relationships, but also in their relationship with the world around them. According to Christina 'H. Gladwin and Carrie M. Thompson, working empowers women especially rural women, and encourages "..changes in women's values, aspirations, and world views, and those of their children, as a result of their new work opportunities. Now, they clearly have more of a world (tiene un mundo): they have career aspirations, desires for travel and further study, attitudes different from those of their parents (e.g. machismo, free trade, birth control, women working)." In Japan, career women do not fit in, a painful fate in a conformist society. One woman found: Japanese society had no place for her: not as a professional, not as a wife....The men she dated 'were mostly looking for servants to cook and clean and support them, not independent- minded partners.' [This].. alienation is common among Japanese career women. They fit neither the professional world nor the traditional world. (Reitman) For this reason, and because of the difficulties married women endure to balance their home lives with their work lives, many career women are now considering remaining unmarried. (Chira). In a 1992 survey, as many as 20% of women in their early 20s said they would remain single. (Sai 153) This is a strong statement in a culture where marriage is tantamount to a rite of passage into adulthood and where the social pressure to marry is so strong that currently 98% of the women marry. (Japanese Women) This is the same pattern found in the U.S. over the last few decades. Once the society becomes more supportive, this will change. What the future holds for Working Women Discrimination will not go away any time soon. But women will continue to enter the workforce in increasing numbers. Many will continue to function in the traditional “women’s jobs” but others will take a more assertive role in advancing their careers, becoming entrepreneurs and moving into the international market. They will become expatriates, they will change the way business is being conducted. They will reshape culture in both business and their countries. America is currently moving into the fourth stage of the paradigm shift. This requires men to accept women as equally powerful, as colleagues. Currently, many men "perceive women only in subordinate roles--such as wife, daughter or secretary" and so are not comfortable with women in positions of power. (Gallese 31) This will change slowly as more women enter the senior ranks in corporations. Many women are not waiting to be promoted to the top, instead, they are going into business for themselves “at a rate two to five times greater than that of men. What's more, only 25% of women-owned businesses fail compared to the national average of 80%. By the year 2000, women will own about 50 percent of all small businesses" (Nubson 20). This move will take us fully into the last step of the paradigm shift where women and men can truly be equal partners and lead more balanced lives. These entrepreneurial women are also moving into the international market at the same rate as all small business indicating that American women as well as American men are risk takers. (Chun 84) They find that the socialization they get as women is helpful to them in the relationship-oriented global market. Also, if they are successful internationally, they do well on the domestic market as well. (Chun 84) Not all women working internationally will own their own company. Although 60 percent of the American Multinationals surveyed were hesitant to send women on overseas assignments, citing concern for their safety, discrimination by foreigners which would make the women ineffective in the position, and loneliness as reasons not to send them, persistent women are successfully completing international assignments. (Marcic and Puffer 217) They find that either the problems are not as severe as expected or the problems they encounter are the same ones the men face. As one female expat pointed out, in Japan, "If you're Western you're already so weird that you can't lose any additional points by being a woman." (Gordon and Lyle) These women will go with a purpose: “to pick up extremely useful skills and international contacts and then move on to another job." (Gordon and Lyle) This is especially significant as the number of women in the workforce will increase to a projected 47 percent by 2005. More women are getting educated and they are seen as America’s “edge” over the competition with other countries which do not include their women in high level positions. “....In the decades ahead, the U.S. will be clearly using a far larger share of its potential brainpower than any of its chief global competitors." (Updegrave) More and more women are remaining in the workforce after the birth of their children. This means the business community will be forced to deal directly with family issues such as child care. Already, Arthur Anderson has a policy which allows "any woman who has made it into management and wants to cut back for up to three years after the birth of a child [to] do that and ...come back and rejoin the partner track" (Gallese 33). Moves like this will reduce the turnover rate for women in their thirties who are forced to leave their jobs at twice the rate of men due to family needs and discomfort with the corporate culture. (36) Other changes that will come: as more women get promoted, men will report to them. This shift in work population will increase the emphasis on the family--both parents will take leave for child-birth, child related emergencies and elder care. Workers will be less willing to relocate and more flexible work schedules will be arranged. (Jaieson and O'Mara 18) Women in Mexico will have a rougher time than American women. As Hofstede’s study revealed, "Men in more masculine countries do not hope to see more women in leading positions." So while women will continue to enter the workforce, the discrimination will continue but there is hope. For example, “...When she [Maria Elena Juarez, a partner in the executive-search company Amrop International] started out some 20 years ago, she never had a female client. Now about 10% of her clients are women--almost all headed for managerial posts earning at least $100,000 a year. In addition, more women are becoming educated; law schools, medical schools and accounting schools now reflect Mexican society, with their ranks half full of women." (Reports) Also, as more women enter the workforce and accumulate savings, they will start their own enterprises. According to a study by the Autonomous University of Mexico, 33 percent of the micro businesses (those with ten or less employees) are run by women. While only 16.3 percent of all companies are currently headed by women, this number should increase as more women enter the workforce. (Reports) Japan is not ready for major changes. The laws have no teeth and the women are torn about how they plan to handle motherhood and work. Two surveys taken in 1992 illustrate the situation. The first survey showed that 58 percent of the women thought the current trend in women's employment was best: women to work until they marry or have children, then resign, and rejoin the workforce after the children are grown. In the second survey, there was a four way split in the women's opinion as to how best handle employment and marriage and childbirth. Twenty-seven said they would quit work upon marriage, 28 percent indicated they would resign from work upon childbirth, another 24 percent pledged that they would not quit upon marriage or childbirth, and 20 percent decided against marriage at all. (Sai) Yet, more women than ever are working--a little over 40 percent of the labor force is female. (Sai) Working outside the home is well accepted, but most are not willing to become career women. The "7-11 lifestyle" does not appeal to them. They do not like the long hours which deprives them of a rich personal life, travel, etc. and the constant entertaining which is foreign to them. (An Interview) They also do not like the fierce competition and geographic transfers which are often required. (Sai) Yet, Japan's demographics are changing as are the work attitudes of it's younger generation. The declining birthrate and aging population will create a labor shortage. This means the Japanese homogeneity will have to end. Women, senior citizens, mid-career hires and even foreigners will have to be accepted into the workforce to fill the ranks. It is possible that this will encourage the Japanese (businessmen) to behave in a more cosmopolitan and inclusive, accepting manner making the business culture more comfortable for women. (Sai) Younger Japanese are beginning to place greater value on a balanced life. In a private survey, 2,000 salaried workers, were asked if they agreed or disagreed with the statement, "I will return home when closing time comes." Fifty-seven percent of the males agreed as did 69 percent of the females. (Sai) This is a radical change from the tradition which measures loyalty and dedication, the two most prized qualities of workers, by the amount of overtime employees put in. (Sai) As this trend continues, companies will be pressured (both by Japanese and by other countries) to reduce the amount of overtime required. When this happens women will have an easier climb up the corporate ladder. Since most Japanese companies won't promote women, Japanese women have turned to American firms for careers. And American businesses have discovered that since most Japanese men do not want to work for them, hiring Japanese female university graduates is highly advantageous. These women are intelligent, well-educated and dedicated. (E. and M. Hall 86-87) As Clifford Hebert wrote, "As economies develop there's a greater need for the best and brightest, no matter what the gender." 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