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Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publications, 2018
Lecture Notes
Chapter 9: Culture and Gender
Learning Objectives:
9-1: Describe how the status of women varies worldwide.
9-2: Explain how the status of women is related to cultural factors.
9-3: Compare the status of women in the Nordic countries to that in other countries.
9-4: Explain how family structure is related to cultural factors.
9-5: Describe the recognition of third gender worldwide.
9-6: Give examples of language use as an expression of gender.
I. Status of Women
A. United Nations Studies
1. Human Development Index (HDI) measures life expectancy at birth,
educational attainment, and adjusted per capita income.
a. First used by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in
1990
b. All countries have made advancements in the past decade
2. A UNDP report from 1993 concluded that no country treated its women as well
as it treated its men.
3. Several developing countries outperform richer countries in opportunities they
afford women.
4. The UNDP 1995 HDI report focused more on the status of women using two
new measures.
a. Gender-Related Development Index (GDI) reflected gender imbalances
in basic health, education, and income.
b. Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) evaluated a country’s progress
in political and economic advancement of women.
c. The GDI remained lower for every country than its HDI.
5. The Gender Inequality Index (GII) was introduced later to better show the
differences in the status of women using three dimensions.
a. Reproductive health--maternal mortality ratio and adolescent fertility
rate
b. Empowerment--share in government and higher education level
c. Labor--participation in the workforce
B. World Economic Forum Study
1. Independent of the United Nations
2. Released its first annual report on world gender inequality in 2006
3. A 2016 report shows 144 countries have closed 96% of the gap in health
outcomes and 95% in education attainment between women and men.
a. Economic participation and political empowerment gap remains wide.
Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publications, 2018
b. The report cites evidence to show empowering women means a more
efficient use of a nation’s human resources and that reducing gender
inequality enhances productivity and economic growth.
4. Health and Survival
a. The differences between women’s and men’s health is based on sex ratio
at birth and life expectancy.
i. Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, and India have sex ratio at birth greater
than 1.1.
ii. Sex selective abortion and infanticide can be attributed to a strong
preference for sons in Asian countries.
b. Lower than expected life expectancy
i. Factors include years lost to disease, malnutrition, violence, and
others
ii. In developing nations, exposure to sexually transmitted infections and
complications from pregnancy and childbirth are linked to adolescent
girls’ and young women’s poor access to education, early marriage,
and lack of decision-making power.
c. Sex trafficking servitude
i. Estimated 800,000 women and girls are coerced or forced
ii. The poorest and most unstable countries where women and girls are
undervalued have the highest incidences.
iii. Many trafficking consumers are from developed nations.
iv. One in three women will experience some form of sexual violence
during her lifetime.
5. Educational Attainment
a. A World Economic Forum report examined literacy rate and access to
primary, secondary, and tertiary education.
i. Illiteracy among youth has almost been eradicated in most regions of
the world.
ii. Nearly two-thirds of the world’s illiterate people are women.
iii. Northern Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia, and western
Asia have the highest disparity.
b. Women and men entering the workforce have almost identical levels of
education.
c. In 1970, women enrollment was less than half of the male rate, by 1990 it
reached 70%.
6. Economic Participation and Opportunity
a. The gender gap still exists in economic participation and opportunity.
i. Globally, 54% of working-age women are employed compared to
81% of men.
ii. Proportion of women in managerial and administrative positions
varies from 28% in industrial countries to 3% in sub-Saharan Africa.
iii. The United States and Canada have the most women in management
with 46% and 42%, respectively, mostly in labor relations and
personnel.
iv. Working women on average earn about half of male wages.
Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publications, 2018
v. In 1977, women in the United States earned 59% of what men earned,
by 2015 it has gone up to 80%.
vi. In the United States, the 1963 federal Equal Pay Act outlawed
gender-based wage discrimination.
1). Earning differences result from women being available fewer
hours
2.) Fields traditionally held by women have lower salaries
b. As technology is used more often, women with minimal skills become
unemployed.
i. 70% of the estimated 1.3 billion people living in poverty are women.
ii. In 1940, 40% of the poor in the United States were women; in 1980 it
was 62%.
c. The lowest ranked counties are from the Middle East and North Africa.
7. Political Participation
a. The World Economic Forum Report shows that in the past 50 years, only
20% of the gap in political participation between women and men has
been closed.
b. By the 1860s, women were organizing for the right to vote.
i. John Stuart Mill presented a petition in the British Parliament in
1866.
ii. New Zealand was the first country to grant women the right to vote in
1893.
c. Of national parliaments worldwide, women have 22% representation.
d. Women’s representation varies by region; 15% in the Pacific, 19% in Arab
states, and 42% in Nordic countries.
e. For the past 10 years, 25% of U.S. state legislators were women.
f. Thirty-two countries have some kind of female quota for local or national
assemblies, according to the United Nations Development Fund for
Women.
g. Rwanda implemented a quota in 2003 and now nearly 64% of the
representatives are women.
h. In 2015, women’s representation in cabinets worldwide was 17%.
i. Finland (63%), Sweden (52%), Norway and the Netherlands (47%
each). and Iceland (44%).
ii. Sweden formed the world’s first gender-balanced cabinet in 1995
with 50% being women.
i. Laws governing travel, marriage and divorce, acquisition of nationality,
property management, employment seeking, and property inheritance are
not equal between men and women due to limited participation of women
in political decision-making.
j. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women was adopted by the United Nations in 1979.
II. Comparison of Individual Countries and Areas
A. Nordic Countries
1. The World Economic Forum reported Iceland has closed more than 87% of its
gender gap.
Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publications, 2018
a. Next comes Finland (85%), Norway (84%), Sweden (82%), and Denmark
(75%)
b. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden share political,
economic, and cultural development.
2. Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland are considered Nordic
countries.
3. Nordic countries rank high in femininity and lowest in gender inequality.
a. Nordic culture is based on sailing and trading.
b. Viking women managed the villages while men were away.
4. A strong value for personal freedom is part of Nordic countries.
a. People converted to Catholicism in the 10th to 12th centuries.
b. In the 16th century, the Lutheran Reformation overcame catholic customs.
c. Translation of the Bible allowed all to read on his or her own, encouraging
strong education programs, work ethic, and decreasing social inequality.
5. Political parties have instituted quotas for women’s representation since the
mid-1970s.
a. Gro Harlem Brundtland became Norway’s first woman prime minister in
1981.
b. As women in politics have grown so has social and gender equality.
6. Nordic countries have legislated equal rights, inexpensive childcare, free
contraception and abortion, and parental leave.
B. Mexico
1. Male chauvinism is part of history and culture.
a. Due to Mexico’s enduring cultural value of machismo, women suffer
from workplace discrimination and physical and psychological abuse
despite antidiscrimination laws.
b. About 30 million women suffered some form of violence and more than
80% of women murdered were killed in their own homes in 2006.
2. Educational attainment (women 94%, men 96%) and health and survival are
near equality but ranks much lower in economic participation and opportunity
and political empowerment.
3. The Institutional Revolutionary Party pushed toward women congressional
candidates.
4. The status of women varies from one region to another.
a. Gender disparities are greatest in the southern states, central Mexico, and
around Mexico City.
b. In the Zapotec community of Juchitán, women play an important role in
trading and decision-making.
C. China
1. Ranks 40th on the Gender Inequality Index
2. Has a higher ranking in educational attainment and health and survival than
economic participation and opportunity and political empowerment.
3. Practices Confucian cultural tradition
a. family comes before the individual
b. boys are valued more than girls
4. Peasant girls were at risk of being kidnapped and sold into marriage prior to
the communist revolution.
5. Confucian traditions remain as barriers to the improved status of women.
6. The Chinese Communist Party’s first law abolished the holding of concubines
and gave women the right to own property, choose husbands, sue for divorce,
and use their own names.
7. In 1949, the average life expectancy for a woman was 39 years, by 2016 it rose
to 78 years.
8. Women gained equality in education, marriage, rights, and freedoms.
9. Women are not included in leadership, only 2% hold managerial roles and only
two sit on the 25-member Politburo.
D. Japan
2. Ranks 26th on Gender Inequality Index
3. Before World War II, education was completely segregated by gender; women
were forbidden from voting or attending 4-year colleges.
4. Japan had the world’s highest HDI rating in 1993, but fell to 17th on the HDI
scale for women.
5. Contemporary Japanese women have more choices in life than in the past.
6. Women are getting married later (average age 29.3) and having fewer children.
8. Multigenerational families are no longer the norm. Most families are husband,
wife with one or two children.
9. Most Japanese homes are apartments or condos around 1023 square feet.
Finances and family life are controlled by the wife.
10. More women than men have voted in elections since 1980 but only 12% of the
legislature are women.
11. Even with the equal employment opportunity law passed in 1986, some
companies use a two-track hiring system placing women in lower paying
career tracks.
12. Even with all the changes in modern Japan, male dominance is continued to be
demonstrated by the royal family, allowing only male children to become heir
to the throne.
E. South Korea
2. A woman had a duty to her husband and his family to provide a male heir.
3. The first king of the last Korean dynasty Yi Seong-gye imposed a version of
Confucianism, called “neo-Confucian” as a way to consolidate power.
4. If a wife did not produce a healthy son, she could be driven from the home and
deprived of her status as a wife.
5. According to the law, women could not be heads of household. This had
implications for divorce, child custody, and communal property ownership.
6. Much of the Confucian-based discrimination against woman in Korean law has
been eliminated, but remains a patriarchal society.
7. Korea ranks 23rd on the Gender Inequality Index.
F. India
Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publications, 2018
1. Population is more than 1.27 billion. Could become the most populous by
2022.
2. Even with a thriving economy, 300 million people live in desperate conditions.
3. The literacy rate for women is 63% compared to men at 81%.
5. Boys are preferred over girls because girls require dowries and only sons are
permitted to perform last rites when fathers die.
6. To prevent widespread abortions of unwanted females, India passed a law
preventing doctors from informing parents the sex of the fetus.
7. In 2011, there were 914 girls for every 1000 boys younger than the age of 6.
8. To encourage parents to care for girls, federal and state governments have
created programs ranging from free meals to free education.
9. Home Secretary G. K. Pillai spoke about 2011 census numbers, “Whatever
measures that have been put in over the last 40 years have not had any impact.”
10. Even with quotas for parliamentary seats to be held by women, only 12% of
members of parliament are women.
G. Sub-Saharan Africa
1. Rwanda, Burundi, Namibia, and South Africa have closed at least 76% of their
gender gaps.
2. Other sub-Saharan countries are ranked the lowest.
4. In 1999, Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court issued a ruling declaring it is in “the
nature of African society that women are not equal to men. Women should
never be considered adults within the family, but only as a junior male or
teenager.”
5. Over 1,000 women are raped every day in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo.
6. The quotas in Uganda grew out of the National Resistance Army’s (NRA) war
in the 1980s. Women fought alongside men and councils included a secretary
for women’s affairs.
8. Every year, 265,000 mothers and 4.4 million children die in sub-Saharan
Africa.
9. Sub-Saharan Africa has half of the world’s maternal, newborn, and child
deaths, resulting from pregnancy and childbirth complications, newborn
illness, childhood infections, malnutrition, and HIV/AIDS.
H. Arab States
1. On the World Economic Forum gender index, the highest performing countries
are Qatar, Algeria, and the United Arab Emirates, and the lowest are Syria and
Yemen.
2. Islam gave women rights in marriage, divorce, property ownership, business,
and inheritance, but actual practices have not met the ideal.
3. Sixty percentage of college students are women but only 21% of the labor
4. Legally, a Muslim man is allowed four wives, but monogamy is common
practice today.
5. Divorce is discouraged, but marriage can be terminated by mutual consent. The
woman can claim her rights in court if she does not want the divorce according
to Islamic law.
6. Saudi Arabia has codes of behavior for women.
a. Women are allowed to vote only for chamber of commerce elections in
two cites.
b. Cannot sit on the kingdom’s cabinet
c. Not allowed to register in hotels or leave the country without a male
relative’s written consent
d. Not allowed to drive a car
e. Must follow rigid dress code
7. Women work outside the home as teachers, computer technicians, social
workers, laboratory technicians, physicists, engineers, bankers, and
filmmakers. Most work in all-female facilities.
III. Marriage
A. Culture influences marriage
B. A Buss study (1989, 1994) in 37 countries reported criteria for selecting a marriage
partner. Mutual love, kindness, emotional stability, intelligence, and health were
universal, others varied by culture.
2. Industriousness is more important for women than men in masculine countries.
C. A 1996 Hofstede study in eight Asian cities concluded that in masculine countries,
love and family life may be seen as separated, whereas in feminine countries, they
are the same.
D. Marriage as an institution has waned in Western counties. Single parent households
rose worldwide in the 1970s and 1980s from 13% to 24%.
E. The parents’ role in preparing children for adulthood is diminishing as more women
move into the workforce.
1. The lack of a kinship system in Africa has left children without direction.
2. The Nordic countries with strong individualism values demonstrate that
individual freedom and self-fulfillment affect the form and duration of the
2. Extended family is two or more nuclear families joined by an extension of the
parent–child relationship.
B. In 1985, Emmanuel Todd developed a schema of family types.
1. Exogamy refers to the practice of marrying outside a defined group.
2. Endogamy refers to the practice of marring within a defined group.
C. Todd developed different family types
1. Exogamous community family
a. Equality of brother is defined by inheritance, married sons live with the
Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publications, 2018
b. Typical in China, Vietnam, Russia, Hungary, and northern India.
2. Authoritarian family
a. Inequality of brothers, inheritance transfers to one son, spouse selected by
parents
b. Typical in Japan, Korea, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Scotland,
and Ireland
3. Egalitarian nuclear family
a. Equality of brothers is laid down by inheritance rules, do not cohabit with
parents, spouse chosen by the individual
b. Typical in northern France, northern Italy, central and southern Spain,
central Portugal, Greece, Poland, and Latin America.
4. Absolute nuclear family
a. No precise inheritance rules, a will is used instead, do not cohabit with
parents, spouse chosen by the individual
b. Typical in Holland, Denmark, and the Anglo-Saxon world
5. Endogamous community family
a. Equality between brothers established by inheritance rules, cohabit with
parents, spouse selected by custom
b. Typical in the Arab world, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan
6. Asymmetrical community family
a. Equality between brothers established by inheritance rules, cohabit with
parents, spouses selected by custom.
b. Typical in India
7. Anomie family
a. Equality between brothers uncertain since inheritance rules are egalitarian
but flexible, cohabit with parents is rejected in theory but flexible, spouse
selected by the individual with some obligation
b. Typical in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and
South American Indian cultures.
8. Knighton (1999) demonstrated a correlation between Hofstede’s individualism
dimension and Todd’s family types.
V. Nonbinary Gender Identities
A. Examples
1. Hijras are a third gender in India with a history of thousands of years in
ancient Hindu texts. They are biological males who take on traditional female
gender roles and have their own roles beyond that of male or female.
2. Zapotec in Oaxaca, in rural Mexico, recognize muxes as men who choose
feminine appearances. Muxes care for their aging parents.
3. Kathoeys in Thailand range from cross-dressers to transsexuals. Most work in
fashion or entertainment, but sometimes they are forced to be sex workers.
4. “Sworn virgins” in the Balkan region of Albania who live as virgins and take
on more traditional male roles. They appear neither feminine nor masculine.
5. Mahu were a commonly accepted third gender in pre-Cook Hawai’i. They
were healers, teachers, and caretakers and neither feminine nor masculine.
6. The term Genderqueer has become a form of identity for people who reject
binary gender identifications.
Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publications, 2018
B. Cultural Status
1. 2006 Yogyakarta Principles address issues of freedom of expression of
identity, sexuality, nondiscrimination, freedom from violence, privacy,
employment, accommodation, health, education, immigration and refugee
issues, public participation, and a variety of other rights.
2. Bangladesh and Nepal recognize a third gender.
3. The Supreme Court in Pakistan called for the recognition of the third gender
category. Following that, the country’s cabinet issued a decree recognizing
hijras as a legal gender.
4. India’s Supreme Court affirmed a person’s right to identify as a man, woman,
or transgender person in 2014.
5. Argentina passed a law in 2012 stating anyone over 18 years of age can choose
their gender identity. Three years later, Colombia, Denmark, Ireland and Malta
passed laws allowing people to change their gender on document by filing
appropriate forms.
6. Australia, New Zealand, and Canada’s Ontario province permit people to
choose “unspecified” on official documents.
VI. Gender Expression and Communication
A. Refers to how people express gender through behavior, hairstyle, makeup, clothing,
and other signs such as language use.
B. Woman share common communication behaviors across cultures.
C. Women are pressured to be submissive and dependent, regardless of individual
personality traits, and men are pressured to be assertive, competitive, and in control
regardless of personality traits.
D. Some languages have great differences among genders.
1. In isiZulu, women and men use different words to refer to the same thing.
2. In Japan, male language sounds “stronger, less refined, and more direct.”
E. A thousand years ago, women in rural China devised a secret language called
Nushu. Women in the Hunan province took characters from standard Chinese and
created the local dialect.
