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This assignment requires reading.

The assignment is: Complete an assessment measure from the reading. What were your results? What are the implications for your multicultural communication strengths and needs.

The reading is below please read and then write and then complete the assessment.

The Perceptual Context

Directly quoted from Neuliep, J. W. (2009). Intercultural communication: A contextual approach (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage.

I. Culture and Cognition
A. People from different cultures think about different things. The life experiences of a Guatemalan Ladino are markedly different than those of a Ukrainian. Few people question that the content of thought for people in different cultures varies. What is open to speculation, however, is whether higher mental processes, such as perception and remembering, differ across cultures.

II. A Model of Human Information Processing.
A. When it comes to processing information, the human mind is analogous to a computer. Information is entered, stored, and retrieved in a sequence of stages where each stage performs a specific operation on the information. During one, the input stage, information is taken in via the senses, attended to, and then interpreted. This is the stage where raw information is taken in through the senses and interpreted by the brain. The essential cognitive process during this stage is perception.

III. Cross-Cultural Differences in Sensation and Perception
A. In addition to the perceptual filters, culture affects one's ability to sense and perceive incoming information. Four explanations for cross-cultural differences in the perception of sensory stimuli include conditions of the physical environment, indirect environmental conditions, genetic differences, and cultural differences in how people interact with their environment.

B. Once information has passed through the perceptual filters, it is processed Into memory. Memory involves maintaining information over time. Cognitive psychologists recognize three kinds of memory, including sensory register (discussed above), short-term, and long-term memory.

C. Once information has been stored, it is relatively useless unless it can be retrieved. The human-information processor excels at retrieval. Information that has been stored for a lifetime can be recalled in an instant. Other times, however, recently stored information seems very difficult to recall.

IV. Cross-Cultural Differences in Memory and Retrieval
A. Culture affects information retrieval. In addition to culture, age and education are two other variables strongly linked to recall. Age and recall are curvilinearly related. Up to a point, one's age facilitates recall. When many people reach a certain age, their memory skills deteriorate, however. Likewise, educated persons seem to employ different kinds of memory strategies.

B. A culture's language and literacy rate may affect recall. Some evidence indicates that nonliterate societies develop mnemonic skills different that those of literate societies. In nonliterate societies, there may be no written language to facilitate memory.

C. Until more is known, final conclusions about the relationship between culture and memory should be made with some degree of caution. Although several studies indicate a connection between culture and memory, these studies may actually be revealing differences in other factors that affect recall, such as socialization or education.

V. Categorization and Mental Economy
A. Humans are besieged by so much stimuli simultaneously that they cannot possibly process all of it. In order to manage the enormous quantities of information, humans tend to engage in categorization. Categorization is classifying, sorting, or arranging information into identifiable compartments that share certain features or characteristics. Most cognitive psychologists argue that all people, regardless of culture, engage in categorization.

B. Humans cannot avoid categorization. Categories are useful because they help the information processor reduce uncertainty and increase the accuracy of predictions about others. Moreover, categories help us to make attributions about the behavior of others and help us recall and recognize information. Understanding categorization is particularly important for intercultural communication because whenever we interact with someone from a different culture we are faced with high levels of uncertainty and unfamiliar stimuli to process.

C. People categorize for a number of reasons, including the reduction of uncertainty and the maintenance of self-esteem. The kinds of information upon which people form categories includes-- but is not limited to-- conspicuous differences, familiarity, functional importance, maximizing the relative advantage of the in-group, projection and externalization, belief similarity, desirable and undesirable qualities, and salient information.

D. There are several consequences of categorization. Categorization helps to confirm thinking, reduces the amount of incoming information to a manageable size, and increases the availability of incoming information. Categorization also reduces uncertainty and stress, especially in situations where we are interacting with someone for the first time who belongs to a culture with which we are unfamiliar. Categorization also helps integrate incoming information and may help to link our own culture with others. On the negative side, when we categorize others we ignore individual elements of the person. We must be conscious that categorizing minimizes ingroup differences while maximizing outgroup differences.

VI. Stereotyping
A. Categories are the basis of prejudgment, such as stereotyping. Considered a subset of categorization, stereotyping involves members of one group attributing characteristics to members of another group. These attributions typically carry a positive or negative evaluation. In this sense, stereotypes are categories with an attitude.

B. Stereotypes typically refer to membership in social categories like sex, race, age, or profession that are believed to be associated with certain traits and behaviors.

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C. Stereotyping is a natural, and universal information-processing strategy. Stereotyping should be seen as a normal and essentially benign process that is a useful information-processing tool in diverse societies. The difficulty arises when stereotypes carry a negative valence and are used to overgeneralize negative traits to an entire group of people when in reality few members of the group actually possess such traits.

VII. Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes
A. The systematic study of racial and ethnic stereotypes in the United States began in the 1930s with a study conducted by David Katz and Kenneth Braly. In their study, college students were presented with a list of adjectives and were asked to indicate which traits were characteristic of ten ethnic groups, including Americans, African-Americans, Chinese, English, Germans, Italians, Irish, Japanese, Jews, and Turks. The results of their study showed that the college students consistently agreed on which traits described which group. The results were particularly consistent for African-Americans and Jews.

B. In their original study, Katz and Braly found a high level of consistency in the adjectives respondents associated with the African-American stereotype. Moreover, the adjectives selected were generally negative. Since their original work, several others researchers have replicated Katz and Braly's stereotype checklist method.

VIII. American Stereotypes
A. The negative connotation associated with stereotyping may be uniquely American. The study of stereotypes in the United States has mainly focused on white stereotypes of African-Americans, which have been particularly brutal and negative.

B. Psychologists studying interpersonal attraction have long understood that perceived similarity is a major determinant in how much people are attracted to and like others. The more we perceive people to be similar to us the more likely we are to be attracted to and like them. Hence, stereotypes that emphasize group differences essentially block the potential for intergroup friendships.

C. Studies demonstrate that stereotypes and personal beliefs are conceptually distinct cognitive structures. Stereotyping is anautomatic information processing strategy whereas prejudice is a controlled process.

D. When viewed as a natural information processing strategy there are several explanations as to why stereotyping is so common and universal, none of which relate to prejudice.

1. One explanation is called the outgroup homogeneity effect; that is, the tendency for people to see members of an outgroup as less diverse and more stereotypic than the members of that group see themselves.

2. A second plausible explanation for stereotyping is called the illusory correlation principle. When two objects that are unfamiliar or unusual in some way are observed to be connected on some occasion, we have the tendency to believe that they are always connected.

3. Stereotypes may arise out of real conditions. For example, a disproportionate number of people from a particular racial or ethnic group may live in poverty, and so members of other groups stereotype all of them as poor or even lazy.

4. Another explanation is their role in self-fulfilling prophecies. The dominant group in a particular culture may construct social or legal obstacles, making it hard for members of the stereotyped group to act differently from the stereotype. Hence, conformity to the stereotype, although forced, validates the stereotype in the minds of the dominant group.

E. Stereotype threat occurs when we sense that some aspect of our self (e.g., our behavior, physical characteristics, or social condition) seems to match the stereotype, making it appear valid. Culturally held stereotypes pose the most danger for stereotyped groups since large numbers of people may hold them, leading members of the group to sense that the stereotype is valid. When the stereotype is negative, the effects can be disastrous to the stereotyped group.

IX. An Intercultural Conversation of Stereotyping
A. Akira is an exchange student from Japan who is spending a semester at an American University. Jim is a student at the same university. Jim was born and raised in Milwaukee. Jim and Akira meet for the first time. In this brief exchange, both Jim and Akira engage in categorization and stereotyping. Initially Jim categorizes Akira based on conspicuous differences ("Man, he's short."),familiarity ("He's probably a math major), and projection ("I wonder if he realizes how many Americans are unemployed because of all the imported Japanese cars"). Akira categorizes and stereotypes Jim in much the same way.

X. Ethnocentrism
A. One of the central concepts in understanding outgroup attitudes and intergroup relations is ethnocentrism. Ethnocentricity is a natural condition and that most peoples of the world do not like foreigners and openly display feelings of hostility and fear towards them. At the core of ethnocentrism is the tendency for any people to put their own group in a position of centrality and worth while creating and reinforcing negative attitudes and behaviors toward outgroups.

B. The term comes from the Greek words "ethnos" which refers to nation and "kentron" which refers to center. The term can also be applied to an ethnic or micro-cultural group within a country.

C. The attitudes and behaviors of ethnocentric persons are biased in favor of the ingroup, often at the expense of the outgroup. Although ethnocentrism is generally thought to be a negative trait, ethnocentrism fosters ingroup survival, solidarity, conformity, cooperation, loyalty, and effectiveness.

D. Ethnocentrism should be viewed along a continuum; that everyone is, to some extent, ethnocentric. As newborns, humans are entirely, and naturally, egocentric. Eventually, we develop an awareness of others around us. By age two or three we engage in social perspective taking of those most central to us. These people, our biological or adopted families, are the center of our universe. As we become socialized, we observe that our families coexist with other families, and that this culmination of people constitutes some form of neighborhood, clan, tribe, community, city, society, and finally culture. By the time we realize that we are a part of some much larger whole, we are officially enculturated and ethnocentric.

E. All intercultural exchanges are necessarily, to a greater or lesser degree, charged with ethnocentrism. Human communication is replete with cultural noise that interferes with the transmission of information. Ethnocentrism leads to ‘‘self-centered dialogue'' where interactants use their own cultural standards to evaluate and communicate with others.

F. Ethnocentrism acts as a perceptual filter that affects not only the perceptions of verbal and nonverbal messages, but also perceptions of their source. Ethnocentrics perceive themselves as dissimilar to and superior to outgroups. Hence, when interacting with people from a different culture or ethnicity, high ethnocentrics are likely to perceive outgroup members as less attractive than ingroup members. Judgment of another's credibility is also affected by ethnocentrism. Persons are thought to be credible to the degree that they are perceived to be informed, qualified, trained, intelligent, trustworthy, etc. However, because they see themselves as superior, ethnocentrics see tend to judge outgroup members as less competent, less honest, less trustworthy, etc.

XI. Ethnocentrism, Intercultural Communication, and Interpersonal Perception
A. The effects of ethnocentrism are manifest in any social context, including organizational environments where persons of different cultural backgrounds interact in the workplace. Ethnocentrism is negatively and significantly correlated with perceptions of social attraction, competence, character, and hiring recommendations. Cultural and/or ethnic similarity between interviewee and interviewer may play a role in hiring decisions. Interviewers are more likely to hire people with whom they feel they have the most in common (e.g., culture and/or ethnicity). This effect may be enhanced by ethnocentrism.

XII. Ethnocentrism and Communication in the Workplace
A. In an increasingly growing diverse workplace, managers and subordinates of different cultures and ethnicities are likely to find themselves interacting together. To the extent that such interactants are ethnocentric, interpersonal perceptions and communication will be negatively influenced. In cases where managers and subordinates are of different cultures or ethnicities, subordinate ethnocentrism may interfere with the interpretation of managerial appraisals. If ethnocentric subordinates perceive managers of different cultures/ethnicities to be less attractive, less competent, and less credible, they may be less likely to accept their appraisal and any of the recommendation contained therein.

XIII. Ethnocentrism and Racism
A. Although the terms racism and ethnocentrism are not synonymous, they are related. Ethnocentrism refers to the degree to which one sees his or her culture as superior and the standard by which other cultures should be judged. Racism refers to a belief that one racial group is superior to others, and that other racial groups are necessarily inferior. To be ethnocentric, but not racist, is possible. To be racist, and not ethnocentric, is probably unlikely. There is a biological component at the core of racist ideology that does not exist in the concept of ethnocentrism. Racist ideology is a belief in the moral or intellectual superiority of one race over the others. This superiority is biologically based. Because such superiority is biological, rather than social, it can not be conditioned by culture or education. However, racist ideology asserts that racial-biological superiority does, in fact, translate into cultural and/or social superiority.

B. Racism and ethnocentrism have different origins. Ethnocentrism is a universal phenomena that reflects a biologically rooted survival instinct experienced, to some degree, by all people in all cultures. Racism, on the other hand, is not universal, and is thought to be learned.

C. Many political scientists offer a socio-economic-political explanation of the causes of racism, frequently called the frustration-aggression hypothesis. During times of social, economic, or political stress (e.g., depressed economy, mass immigration) the dominant cultural group often will place blame on subordinate racial groups. Racism becomes a way of releasing the stress and frustration associated with difficult social, economic or political times. In these situations, the dominant group often will act out its frustration against the subordinate racial group, via prejudice and discrimination.

The Sociorelational Context
Directly quoted from Neuliep, J. W. (2009). Intercultural communication: A contextual approach (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage.

I. Dimensions of Group Variability
A. For individuals in any culture, there are those groups to which they belong, called membership groups, and those groups to which they do not belong, called nonmembership groups. There are two classes of membership groups, including voluntary and involuntary.
1. Involuntary membership groups are those groups to which people have no choice but to belong (e.g., age, race, sex).

2. Voluntary membership groups include those groups to which people consciously choose to belong (e.g., political affiliation, religion, occupation).

B. Nonmembership groups are those groups to which people do not belong. Like membership groups, nonmembership groups can be voluntary or involuntary. Some people may want to belong to a group but are ineligible to join because they do not possess the needed qualifications (e.g., age, education, etc.). In other cases, people might be eligible for membership in a group but choose not to join. The distinction is important because people who are eligible to join a group, but choose not to belong may be more likely than ineligible nonmembers to accept and embrace the norms and behaviors of the group.

II. Ingroups and Outgroups
A. Ingroups represent a special class of membership group characterized by a potent internal cohesiveness among its members and a sometimes intense hostility toward outgroups. Loyalty to one's membership group does not necessarily mean that you will feel hostility toward nonmembership groups or outgroups, however.
1. An ingroup is a group whose norms, aspirations, and values shape the behavior of its members.

2. An outgroup is a group whose attributes are dissimilar from those of the ingroup, or who opposes the accomplishment of the ingroup's goals.

B. The tendency to distinguish between ingroups and outgroups is universal. When we meet someone from a different culture for the first time, we immediately categorize the other as an ingroup or outgroup member. Attributions about ingroup and outgroup members are typically biased in favor of the ingroup at the expense of the outgroup.

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C. Ingroup bias can manifest itself in ingroup virtues and outgroup vices. Often times the behaviors and practices of the ingroup are perceived by the ingroup as virtuous (i.e., ingroup virtues) yet when the very same behaviors are practiced by the outgroup, they are seen as unacceptable (outgroup vices).

III. Reference Groups
A. A reference group is a group to which we may or may not belong but in some way identify with in an important way. A reference group possesses some quality to which we aspire and hence serves as a "reference" for our decisions or behavior. Reference groups can be membership or nonmembership and positive or negative.

B. Reference groups serve two functions, including a comparative function and a normative function. We often use reference groups to compare ourselves in making judgments and evaluations. Individuals also use reference groups to establish the norms and standards to which they conform. Students on college campuses dress according to how other students dress. Our reference groups influence our self-concept, self-esteem, and our relationship with others.

IV. Role Relationships
A. Whenever we join a group, voluntarily or involuntarily, we assume a role. A role is one's relative position in a group; that is, one's rank. Any group role exists in relation to some other role in that group. In fact, roles cannot exist in isolation, they are always related to some other role.

B. With all roles, in all groups, certain behaviors are expected. A role, then, can be defined as one's relative position in a group with an expected set of verbal and nonverbal behaviors. By virtue of our membership in groups, even family groups, we are expected to behave in certain ways, usually according to some set of standards or norms established by the group.

C. There are two types of roles in most cultures, including formal and informal. Formal roles have very well defined, and often times contractual, behavioral expectations associated with them. Formal roles and their prescriptions vary across cultures. Informal roles are learned informally and are much less explicit than formal roles. Unlike formal roles, the behavioral expectations associated with informal roles must be mastered by experience and vary considerably from person to person, and group to group.

D. Roles and communication are integrally linked. Roles prescribe (1) with whom, (2) about what, and (3) how to communicate with others.

E. Our social identity is created by our total combination of roles. One's social identity is that part of the individual's self-concept derived from his/her membership in social groups together with the value and significance attached to that membership.

F. Because roles and communication are so closely related, they must be considered cross cultural; that is, roles vary significantly across cultures. For example, although there are probably teachers and students in every culture, what it means to be a teacher or student in the United States might differ remarkably from what it means in China or Japan.

G. There are at least four dimensions upon which roles vary across cultures. These dimensions include the degree of personalness, formality, hierarchy, and deviation from the ideal role enactment.
1. Roles can vary from personal to impersonal. Some role relationship are quite close and perhaps intimate whereas others are distant.

2. The degree of formality between roles varies from formal to informal. In some cases our role relationships are prim and proper while others are casual and relaxed.

3. The degree of hierarchy refers to how strictly roles are ranked from one another. In some cultures there may be a very rigid hierarchical distinction between student and teacher whereas in others the difference is quite loose and flexible.

4. The degree of deviation allowed refers to how much a person is permitted to deviate from the prescribed role expectation without significant negative sanction.

IV. Role Differentiation and Stratification
A. The rank ordering of roles within a culture is called social stratification. Social stratification varies across cultures. Not all roles are valued the same across cultures. Some cultures make relatively few distinctions while others make many. This is called role differentiation. A highly differentiated culture may make numerous role distinctions.

B. Many collectivistic, high context, and high power distance cultures possess a relatively strict hierarchical role stratification compared to low context, individualistic, low power distant cultures.

C. Because roles prescribe with whom, about what, and how to communicate with others, communication in cultures with a rigid social stratification system is very predictable. Verbal and nonverbal messages are prescribed according to one's role and his/her rank in the social hierarchy.

D. Many individualistic, low context, low power distance cultures profess equality and minimize role stratification. In fact, in many of these cultures, equality is legislated. Although role differences are recognized and respected, these cultures believe that a person occupying a role is a unique individual. In this sense, knowing someone's role provides only minimal information about the person. Hence, knowing one's role does not reduce as much uncertainty as it would in a high context, high power distance culture.

E. Understanding a culture's role differentiation and stratification is important for communication because special vocabularies exist for different roles. Communication problems often result when persons from different cultures do not understand or recognize the role differences between cultures.

V. A Cultural Conversation Between Roles
A. In this conversation, Mr. Mammen does not understand why he cannot be seated in the restaurant. In his native culture, Mr. Mammen occupies a high status role that gives him certain privileges not accorded others. In his native culture, Mr. Mammen would have been seated immediately.

VI. Family Groups
A. All human beings, regardless of culture, belong to a family. One's biological family is the first and probably most significant socialization influence on a child. The structure of the family and the degree of influence a family has on its children differ notably across cultures. As a unit, the nuclear family is prevalent in most low context, individualistic, low power distance cultures such as the United States, Canada, and northern European cultures such as England, Ireland, Germany, and France. Extended families are common in Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East and throughout Asia, although trends are changing even in these countries. In collectivistic cultures, families are generally cohesive and well integrated. Familial relations are caring and warm, but also hierarchical. The decision making process typically is not democratic. In individualistic cultures, on the other hand, there is less emphasis on hierarchy and more emphasis on individual development. Family decisions may be more participative than in collectivistic cultures.

B. In the Hmong culture of Laos, the most important sociocultural groups are the family and the clan, both of which are headed by men. The Hmong clan system combines social, political, economic, and religious dimensions and is the primary guide for Hmong behavior. Within a clan, each person has certain obligations to others. When one shares with fellow clan members, the act is returned. Clan members of the same generation (but of different biological families) will call each other "brothers" and "sisters."

C. Historically and in traditional Korean society, family roles and social interaction were governed by patriarchal Confucianism which prescribes a social structure of authoritarian collectivism. Traditional Korean patriarchal Confucianism imposes a rigid hierarchy and inequality between different age groups and between men and women. Males dominate females and elders dominate young. In traditional Confucian families, children are socialized to conform with traditional gender stereotypes and are segregated by sex.

D. The family group represents the foundation of Islamic society. Obedience and respect for parents is repeatedly stressed in Islamic teachings. In Islam, the individual is not allowed to be just an individual who is free to do whatever he/she desires. The most natural unit of society is the family. In Islam, there are three factors which keep the family together, including kinship or blood ties, marital commitments, and faith.

VII. Sex and Gender Groups
A. One group to which every human being belongs, regardless of culture, is biological sex. Biological differences between males and females are universally recognized. But like any other group, to be a member of a sex group is to assume a role, in this case a sex role. And like any other role, one's sex role, or gender, is a set of expectations about how one should behave.

B. The terms sex and gender are used interchangeably, but the terms are not synonymous. Sex refers to the biological and anatomical classifications of males and females. Gender, on the other hand, is a social and symbolic creation that we learn through enculturation and socialization. Our sex-role orientation is the extent to which we take on the learned socialization for our sex group.

VIII. Gender Stereotypes
A. In most cultures, men and women carry out different sex roles, yet there is remarkable consistency in how cultures view the roles of men and women. Since 1990, John Williams and Deborah Best, professors of psychology at Wake Forest University, have conducted a series of cross-cultural studies investigating gender stereotypes. Their results are presented in table 6.2

IX. Sex and Gender Roles Across Cultures
A. The variability of sex roles across cultures is dramatic. But many anthropologists and some feminist writers contend that while the customs and practices with which women's subordination is expressed differs from culture to culture, the secondary status of women across the globe is one of the few universal cross-cultural truisms.
1. Moroccan society defines physical space according to male and female roles. Private space within the home is for family and is considered female space. Public space, on the other hand, is male space. Women are to fulfill their roles inside the female space; that is, the interior of the home. Men fulfill their roles in public spaces; that is, almost anywhere outside the home.

2. The Kimono clad, bamboo parasol-toting, bowing female, walking three paces behind her husband, is still seen in some parts of Japan. But the lives and attitudes of many younger contemporary Japanese women have undergone dramatic changes in the past 20 years. The postwar Japanese Constitution stipulates that all Japanese are equal under the law and outlaws discrimination on the basis of sex. To be sure, however, most private and political organizations that comprise the dominant Japanese culture are controlled by men.

3. The Preamble of the Indian Constitution guarantees all citizens "equality of status." Unfortunately, writes Duley, legal equality remains elusive for most Indian women. The subordination of women in India is primarily economically based. Most women work in agricultural jobs. But in the past few decades, India has developed a commercial market economy with capital-intensive production. Although laws favoring women's rights have been passed, they have not had much impact. Although the Dowry Prohibition Act was passed in 1961, the practice of dowry giving has actually spread in recent years because of the overwhelming pressure on girls to marry. The amount of the dowry is often calculated according to the groom's potential financial prospects. Grooms in well paying jobs demand larger dowries. Often the bride's parents cannot afford expensive dowries and the in-laws continue to extort goods from the bride after the wedding. If their demands are not met, they often murder her. These so-called "dowry deaths" have increased dramatically in the past decade to nearly 6000 a year (although many believe the number is much higher). Often the deaths are made to look like accidents. For example, brides are doused with kerosene and set on fire in or near the kitchen of her home.

4. Most Arab states (e.g., Saudi Arabia, Iran) and Arab societies adhere to a patriarchal (i.e., male ruled) social and political system in which a woman's position within and duties toward the family precede her rights as an individual. Saudi women are not allowed to vote, drive a car, sail a boat, or fly a plane. They cannot check into a hotel without a male family member. They cannot appear outdoors with hair, wrists, or ankles exposed. They cannot marry, work, study, travel, or obtain identification papers without the permission of a male guardian. If she does work, with the permission of her husband or a male guardian, she may not work alongside males. Although many women pursue university degrees, Saudi women make up just 5 percent of private workforce (most women are teachers). Moreover, women and/or their guardians are not allowed to postpone marriages for the purpose of continuing education.

5. Egyptian women, together with children, represent about 70 percent of the population. All Egyptian citizens enjoy a constitutional right for public posts without discrimination between males and females. In addition, the constitution guarantees the protection of motherhood, childhood and the existence of a harmony between the duties of a woman towards her family and her role in society. Even with such constitutional rights, gender segregation is an integral part of social etiquette and class structure in Egypt. Many of advances women have made are contradicted by high rates of illiteracy, minimal political participation, declining representation in parliament, and the recurrence of modest dress.. Nearly 62% of females as opposed to 38% males are illiterate. Boys and girls receive different kinds of education. Girls are taught home economics while boys are taught agricultural economics, topics that are considered gender-appropriate. Women are not treated equally under Egyptian law. For example, the penalty for murdering one's spouse (upon discovery of adultery) is much harsher for the wife than the husband. Typically, men are given a prison sentence of not more than three years. Women are often sentenced to death or hard labor for life. Guenena and Waesef contend that this difference stems from the Egyptian attitude that a man's reputation is dependent upon his wife's high merit. Consequently, murdering one's adulterous wife is excusable, especially if committed in the heat of the moment.

6. China: In a survey of 10,000 Chinese urban men and women, 92% of the men indicated that they wanted a wife who would be aggressive in her career, and yet 96% of men desired a virtuous wife who would do most of the household chores. Nearly half the Chinese women surveyed, however, wanted men to share chores more and desired an equal division of labor as important for the development of equality between men and women. The husband's sentiments are typical of China's long history where women have had little freedom and few rights. According to Gracie Ming Zhao, for most of its history China has been a feudal society in which the Chinese were under the dictatorial rule of an emperor. About 100 years ago, the Chinese overthrew that system, and about 60 years ago they established the People's Republic. Since then, the Chinese women's liberation movement has made significant advances toward women's rights. Chinese women, especially single women, are considered more vulnerable and less capable of dealing with the outside world than men. According to Pimentel, fewer young women, compared with older women, take on the entire load of domestic work. Ironically, these same Chinese women are increasingly dissatisfied with the division of labor and less happy in their marriages. Pimentel suggests that the push for women's equality in the family has produced a backlash among men, such that younger Chinese men are actually far less democratic than their older counterparts. Chinese men and women seem to be growing further apart.

7. Today, Mexican women are more educated than ever. In the last 25 years, the literacy rate of the Mexican population has increased noticeably. In 2004, the literacy rate among men was 92% and among women it was 89%. Marquez maintains that males and females used to have specific and separate roles. Traditionally, men were the providers and women did the domestic work. During the past few years, however, the roles of men and women have changed noticeably.

Today about 42% of Mexican women are in the labor force. Although women now contribute much in the work world, women also contribute at home with the family. Nearly 93% of women age 12 years and older do domestic work. But, Marquez argues, men and women often work together to maintain the family. As a result, some men do domestic activities while some women work outside the home. Marquez notes that in Mexico, authority and responsibility are given to the father, or to the oldest male, or "jefe," of the household. Few women hold this position. Authority in Mexican society has been held by the men. Men are in charge of the family direction. Women only take this responsibility when the men have left home.

Text directly quoted from Neuliep, J. W. (2009). Intercultural communication: A contextual approach (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage. Clipart from Microsoft. Photographs by C. Aitken-Palmer or as credited. Copyright. All rights reserved.