UNIT TITLE: Challenging gender stereotypes

São Paulo - BRA

OVERVIEW: Each culture possesses its own particular traditions, values and ideals.
Contemporary humans live and work in multicultural societies which provide individuals with
awareness of different lifestyles and cultures; moreover multiculturalism brings out the issue of
integrating all this knowledge, and negotiating differences and cultural barriers in their everyday
life and working environment. The aim of this section is to examine our beliefs concerning
gender in a multicultural culture, in order to explore the means to overcome cultural
stereotypes and barriers in communication.

TARGET GROUP:
Adult Learners&Young Adults
GENERAL & BUSINESS CONTEXT
MIN.LEVEL REQUIRED:
Post-Intermediate

KEY WORDS: corporate responsibility, gender practices; sustainable development; gender

stereotypes;
economic and environmental
PART I. Corporate Responsibility and Gender practices

I. Pre-reading task. Consider the following questions:

a. Do you think in your country there are equal opportunities for women and men in
the corporate (i.e. labour) culture? If no, why not?
b. What do you think the concept of “corporate responsibility” means? How can we
overcome gender inequalities at work?
c. Have the new EU regulations affected your organization in any way in terms of
gender policy?
 II. Read the following text1:

Gendered division of labour.

“The gendered division of labour refers to a complex set of values, norms, rules and
practices in the field of labour where an asymmetrical distinction is produced. This distinction is
shown between women and men, paid and unpaid work, work inside and outside home, female
and male tasks and professions. Occupational segregation is one of the key factors in the field
consisting of both horizontal and vertical segregation. With horizontal segregation, choices of
jobs for women are limited and stereotyped leading to women’s concentration in certain labour
markets. The association between “feminization/ masculinization” in an occupation, and its
status, is very strong and helps cause women's under-representation in technological sectors.
With regard to vertical segregation, the term glass ceiling refers to the fact that relatively few
women are promoted into managerial and higher positions despite their qualifications. Vertical
and horizontal segregation of labour results in a gender pay gap – the appearance of gender
roles in which men's authority is more highly valued both economically and socially than that of
women.”

Comprehension and analysis:

1.1. Explain the following terms: gendered division of labour; occupational segregation;
horizontal segregation; vertical segregation; glass ceiling; gender pay gap
1.2. Is the text above representative for the society you live in? What about the organization
where you work?

III. Listening:
1. Pre-listening task:
Before you listen, match the words in A with their synonyms in B
A B

1
The excerpts are taken from a report published by the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE) on Gender
in Research – Gender Impact Assessment of the specific programmes of the Fifth Framework Programme, web
address: ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/.../women_gender_impact_fp5_en.pdf, visited on 17th May, pp. 13-14
 despite masculinity and/or femininity
to address general trend
lack fairness
gender schedule
equity to approach
agenda scarcity
mainstream in spite of

2. Now listen and answer the questions:2

“Despite the strategies introduced to address the under-representation of women in political

life, such as quotas, processes of decision-making and leadership are highly gendered, both
in political arenas and economic fields. The lack of women in key decision-making positions
within science is not just a matter of gender equity and influencing research agendas, it may
affect the extent to which the gender dimension is treated in research itself. Organizations
dominated by men tend to be resistant to gender mainstreaming and to employing women in
decision-making positions. It takes time to change attitudes of individuals and institutions
and specific measures are needed in order to secure women’s access to decision-making and
leadership positions.”

Comprehension. Choose the best answer:

1. The speaker states that women are:
a. poorly represented in the political arena and economic field.
b. present in leading positions in science due to gender equality
c. able to influence research results due to their decision-making positions
2. The speaker states that companies run by male managers:
a. fail to employ women in leadership positions.
b. are open to hiring women as decision-makers
c. resist to any kind of domination
3. In the speaker’s opinion, women’s access to leading positions in a company requires:

2
Ibid.
 a. A good CV
b. Being able to take decisions
c. New mentalities and policies

IV. Case study (a) & project work (b)

a. Background. You are the HR manager in an international company based in

Romania. You have been asked by your General Manager to deliver a presentation
to an audience of foreign and local managers on management policies to
overcome gender division of labour in your organization.
Tasks:
1. Write a report on the solutions and policies you proposed to overcome gender division of
labour in your organization. (see writing file*)
2. Plan your presentation. (see language skills file**)
3. Deliver your presentation to your group-work members. Ask for feedback.

b. Background. Choose a student partner. Together, brainstorm on media

representations of womanhood and manhood in your country. Are these
representations similar to those in other geographical areas?
Tasks:
1. Write a short questionnaire aimed at foreign people (at least 2 nationalities) to research
how gender issues are represented by media in another countries. (see writing file*)
2. Post your questionnaire on a blog and invite foreign people to answer it.
3. Design a poster (report) reporting on your project research outcomes.

NOTA:
*, ** Writing file si language skills file sunt material adiacente, acre pot fi postate intr-un link si
au rol consultativ.