Contemporary society
Socialization is an integral process that defines how community members interact with one another. Individuals are expected to conform to absolute values and beliefs that suit them in society. Society values and beliefs are acquired from one person to another as people socialize. Socialization is closely related to psychology. Through positive socialization, people can make the world a better living place. As people positively interact in society, values such as peace and equality can be transferred from one individual to the other. However, unethical socialization can result in contemporary issues. Women discrimination is a contemporary issue that is related to social inequalities. In this regard, socialization influences how we view the world. Cultural background and work are two agencies of specialization that are correlated. Cultural beliefs and values can be inherited from one generation to the other. In earlier centuries, medieval stories reflect how women were discriminated. The ancient man did not allow women to assume religious leadership roles. The practice still exists in modern society where some cultural backgrounds recommend for differentiated religious roles between men and women. The cultural background has made people view women as a minor gender since the earlier centuries. A huge wealth-gap exists between men and women in the 21st century. The disparity is a clear indication that women are still being discriminated in the workplaces. Cultural background and work are socialization agencies that influence how people view gender inequalities.
Culture refers to the beliefs, material objects and behaviour shared by a specific group of people (Ginzberg, 2017). Through socialization, agents are able to learn the cultural values and norms, providing guidelines for our daily activities. Culture creates similarity with how a group of people interact. Culture background is reflected by how individual dresses, what they eat, and how they utilize their free time. Culture background is the main basis of making peoples life meaningful. Some cultural backgrounds emphasize cooperation, while others value competition. Cultural background influences how everyone socializes and how they conduct their daily activities. Culture is normally created by human beings. Culture has several principles and traditions passed from one generation to the other. With the culture being created by human beings, it is possible to make corrections to some cultural practices. My cultural background has made me believe that women cannot venture in administering ministry in the church. I have been forced to believe that women can only administer ministries at home. Even with the ability of women to offer great ministry in the church, they are still denied the role of being the overall leader. Women are given the minor roles in the church such as teaching children, organizing Bible studies, leading music and others.
Women are still not being assigned formal leadership roles equally with men (Joo et al., 2018). From my culture women are believed to be inferior to men and that they should be ruled by men. The perceptions lead to the development of some cultural rules that women should be submissive to their husbands. With all the opinions regarding women leadership in my culture, my socialization was tuned to view women as unfit for leadership. In my culture, women are supposed to stay at home and perform home duties. The belief limited women from getting formal employment. The cultural belief has promoted women discrimination in their workplaces. Women are regularly viewed as inferior, while carrying out their tasks. Women are also segregated from the equal distribution of opportunities in the workplaces with a high number of men being given the highest positions in the workplaces. Some cultural backgrounds believe that some professions are generally for men and others are specifically for women. This has denied women equal opportunities in engaging in more technical professions. The belief affects socialization because those women engaging in the professions that were previously considered as for men are taken as tough in the society, and they might end up being discriminated by other members in the society.
Some cultural backgrounds support Female Genital Mutilation as a method of initiating young girls to womanhood. The FGM is a procedural process for eliminating external female genitalia partially or completely. The practice is carried out by traditional experts who are aware of the practice. The practice can also be conducted by a medical professional with the motive of ensuring safety (Ali et al., 2020). The cultural belief was started with different motives, such as to turn young girls to womanhood. Some other communities conduct the procedure with an aim to prevent the girls from engaging in sexual immorality. The practice has affected the socialization of girls because those girls who fail to go through the procedure are discriminated from the rest of community members. In these cultures, girls who fail to go through FGM are from engaging in marriage practices. However, international organizations have continued to insist that the practice is a form of violating human rights for both girls and women. The practice promotes inequality between both genders, which is a major cause for female discrimination across the world. The practice denies females personal rights to health. FGM denies the female gender right to security and physical integrity, which is crucial for socialization. The cultural practice influences how ladies are treated by the community and how they interact with other members of the community.
Some culture believes that its women’s responsibility to carry out home duties. Women in the United States are identified to spend more time in house chores as compared to men. The cultural belief has made women be subjected to home duties even if they are in the same professions as men. Culture subjects women earning more salaries than their husbands to more house chores. The act is normally considered as a way of women protecting their careers as well as respecting their husbands as stated traditionally. The belief has affected how women relate with men because they find it disrespectful delegating the house activities to men. Women’s attitude of being concerned about the undone house activities has been attributed to socialization. However, some societies are enhancing gender equality leading to an equal share of house activities between men and women. The cultural belief is among the major factors influencing gender inequality in the U.S because most men, while socializing with women still expect them to conduct the house activities. The perception was created by traditional gender roles, which assigned women to carry out a large portion of household chores.
Work is the second agency that has a significant impact on how people relate with one another. Workplace performs the process of socialization during the orientation process of the new employees to the job (Thrasher & Walker, 2018). Through the orientation process employees are able to obtain knowledge regarding their new assignments in the organization. With the information instilled to the employers, it will be easier for them to conduct the task effectively. The methods used for the orientation process of the employees include printed materials, videos, lectures, formal meetings, and online orientation. The surveys conducted indicate that using the above socialization techniques results in positive results from the new employees. The new employees also experience job satisfaction. The positive results are essential for an organization that is working towards retaining a competitive advantage in a growing market environment. Employees who are familiar with some of the company’s tasks are quick to fit in the company. The main traits required for a new employee are the proactive personality, high experience levels and curiosity. Proactive personality enables the employees to take charge of the situations and also achieve control over one’s environment. Having such personality encourages some workers to seek more information from others, encouraging socialization. New employees who are open to experience are more likely to seek information, opinions, and correction from other workers.
Curiosity is very important in making new employees adapt to the new environment (Chang & Shih, 2019). Curiosity refers to the urge of acquiring knowledge that motivates individuals to learn the organization’s culture and norms. Curious employees are always open to seeking information to help them understand the organizational environment, which smoothens the process of orientation. For example, employees who have a [previous experience are more likely to adjust to the new environment easier compared to graduates. This is because previously employed employees can refer to their previous experience to help them fit in the new organization. They are more familiar with their area of specialization, and they are well aware of what is requiring from them. They are also aware of what is specifically required from them in the work environment. Employees that are social and inquisitive can help conduct the orientation process. The new employees can also help accelerate their adjustment process by understanding the organization values and norms to help them to be socially accepted. Socializing with other workers and managers will help create a good communication network in the organization, which will facilitate the process of carrying out operations. Good communication network can be created during both informal meetings and formal meetings.
Organizational values determine how gender inequality is viewed and solved in the company. The stereotyped gender roles have made women have underrepresentation in the STEM fields because they are considered as male fields (Piatek-Jimenez, 2019). Society has stereotyped women roles, which are often carried to workplaces. The society has developed feminine roles and tasks for women, which make them secluded from activities that are considered more masculine. Traditionally, the engineering courses were considered masculine as a result of gender socialization, which convinced men, that their skills are more technical. The workforce believes that the engineering course being masculine made women to be discriminated from working as engineers. Those women who ventured in the engineering field were discriminated in the workplaces by being given unequal tasks compared to the other male colleagues. The major positions in the workplaces are also given to the male workers making women feel inferior for the jobs. According to gender socialization, women are expected to engage in careers that are fit for their gender. The theory illustrates that socialization basically affects individuals throughout their lives, and women are socialized to take careers that match their genders. The gender beliefs developed in the workplaces determines the career path that women should take discriminating them from venturing in technical fields.
Several factors have made women enter and succeed in various professions. However, even with the rapid progress made by women around the world in pursuing careers, there are still several obstacles affecting them in the workplaces. Women are faced by occupational sexism as they try to acquire higher ranking in the workplaces. Women face inequalities in workplaces in different forms, which include access to education and training, network discrimination, access to capital and other forms. During the 19th and 20th centuries, most occupations were professionalized requiring specific higher education. Women had limited access to higher education, which restricted women from participation in these occupations. Women are also limited from accessing occupations that require financial boost because they are prevented by unequal access to capital. This affects women who want to major in careers such as farming. Women discrimination in the workplaces should be eliminated to encourage socialization.
The idea that men and women are not equal is deeply rooted in our society. Viewing women as a weak gender influence how women interact with other members of society. The belief that women are a disadvantaged gender has influenced our family set-ups. In homes, it is common to find boy children performing difficult tasks as compared to their female counterparts. The culture has made male children view girls as weak gender. Home chores are shared based on gender. The biased participation of home chores is guided by cultural norms. Personally, my cultural background has affected how I interact with my female peers at home. Watching television programs as a group positively impact how the group members socialize with one another. As children watch the same television program, they share their ideas on the values possessed by the program characters. In my childhood, I used to spend most of the time on weekends watching television movies with my sister. However, due to the cultural belief that women are weak, I used to support strong male characters and despise the female character. Thus, cultural alienation affected how I socialized with my siblings at my childhood development stage. Work brings people from different backgrounds together. However, workplaces have become places of discrimination. The discrimination of women at the workplaces has negatively affected our socialization patters. In my view, all people should progressively omit cultural practices and beliefs that tend to undermine the female gender. After evaluating work and cultural background agents of socialization, I have developed a view on gender that is different from my childhood views. Currently, I interact with people at the workplace regardless of their gender or cultural backgrounds.
In conclusion, socialization is a process that dictates how people interact in society. Society beliefs and values determine how people socialize. Work and cultural backgrounds are agents of socialization that can influence how we view the world. Some cultures support the ideas of male superiority that promotes gender inequality. We should abandon retarded cultural beliefs and instead focus on cultural diversity. Embracing cultural diversity will eliminate the idea of masculinity, which will positively impact how people of different gender socialize. Positive socialization between genders will eliminate incidences of workplace discrimination and change how we view the world.
References
Ali, S., Patel, R., Armitage, A. J., Learner, H. I., Creighton, S. M., & Hodes, D. (2020). Female genital mutilation (FGM) in UK children: a review of a dedicated paediatric service for FGM. Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Chang, Y. Y., & Shih, H. Y. (2019). Work curiosity: A new lens for understanding employee creativity. Human Resource Management Review, 29(4), 100672.
Ginzberg, E. (2017). Seeking order in chaos: A definition of culture. GSTF Journal of Law and Social Sciences (JLSS), 5(2).
Joo, M. K., Yu, G. C., & Atwater, L. (2018). Formal leadership mentoring and motivation to lead in South Korea. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 107, 310-326.
Piatek-Jimenez, K., Cribbs, J., & Gill, N. (2018). College students’ perceptions of gender stereotypes: making connections to the underrepresentation of women in STEM fields. International Journal of Science Education, 40(12), 1432-1454.
Thrasher, A. B., & Walker, S. E. (2018). Orientation process for newly credentialed athletic -trainers in the transition to practice. Journal of athletic training, 53(3), 292-302.