Reflective Journal 3

Reflective Journal 3: Reflect on the changing roles of women. You may choose to consider how the changing roles of women in society made an impact on you by drawing on examples from China, the United States and/or Singapore.

The roles of women have definitely changed over the years. Be it in China, United States or even Singapore, the role of women has changed. The changing roles of women can be seen from a few aspects, but mainly through economic aspect and also social aspect.

Firstly, let us look at the changing roles of women in the economic sphere. In the past, women do not play hold important positions in the economic world. They are mostly confined to work as factory workers and being domestic helpers. Their job opportunities are limited and not as important as the ones men have, including positions like managers etc. However, the situation has changed. Women are starting to take on jobs in the business world, becoming managers and even setting up their own business. They are getting more job opportunities then before. It is also common to see women earning around the same income as men nowadays. One example of women holding important positions would be American Sheryl Kara Sandberg, who served as Facebook’s COO and second in command. She has helped Facebook grow and also helped monetize them. She also served as chief of staff for the U.S Treasury Department under President Bill Clinton and also managed Google's online global sales and operations as a vice president. In my opinion, this change of roles is due to the progress in education opportunities for women, which would lead me to my next point on social changes.

The role of women has also definitely changed in society. Let us first look at the changes of the role of women in terms of education levels. In the past, education of women or girls are often overlooked as parents prefer to send their sons to educate them as girls are seen as caregivers of the family and they tend to stay at home to look after the family whereas sons are seen as the main breadwinners of the family and are sent for education to get a better job opportunity. However, nowadays, it is not uncommon to see more girls to be sitting in the same classroom with boys listening to lectures and lessons given by teachers. Women nowadays are getting more and more opportunities to pursue education. Apart from education, role of women has also changed in terms of family roles. In the past, women are seen as the caregiver of the household. They tend to the wellbeing of each family member, cooking meals for them and washing their dirty clothing, while the man of the family would go out and earn an income for the family. Furthermore, women in the past do not have much say in making decisions in the household, with the male figure in the household taking up the responsibility. However, women now have a greater say in how things go in the family. They keep track of household expenses and earnings, and they also play a bigger part in decision making in the household. I feel that this is also because of women taking up jobs and earning an income for the family. I feel that women in the past do not feel that they have the rights to make decisions as it was the man who earns the money to keep the family going. Whereas the women now are earning an income too and hence, I feel that by earning an income like the man of the family, they have the right to take part in decision making. One prime example to this changing family role would obviously be my family. My mother works as a manager at a phone company and she also makes decisions in the family. In fact, I feel that she makes most of the decisions in the family and furthermore, she seems to have a better grasp of handling the cheque books in the family than my father.

In conclusion, I feel that the roles of women have changed from the past. Although these changing roles suggest that gender equality between men and women are slowly being achieved, however, I feel that gender equality has not been achieved in all three societies brought up. Women are still being stereotyped as the weaker gender and discriminations against women are still ever present in the three societies. Even though the role of women has changed, I feel that the mindsets of people still have not changed much. Furthermore, I feel that laws protecting women against discriminations, such as quotas, are actually instilling in people the perception that women are still the weaker gender, whereby they need more protection. Hence, I feel that even though the role of women has indeed changed from the past, gender equality cannot be reached unless women themselves strive to change the mindsets of others. Only by showing that they have the ability to do something, then would people start changing their mindset.

(811 words)

Reflective Journal 2

Reflective Journal 2: Reflect on the progress in American and Chinese societies. (Hints: You can explore the notion of progress, which society/elements you deem to be more progressive)

There are many ways to look at how much a certain country has progress. In my opinion, progress is when there is improvement in some aspect in a country which affects the standard of living of the population. It may come in the forms of political progress and economical progress. In this post, I would be discussing about the progress of American and Chinese societies through their participation in politics and also through education in both societies.

Firstly, I would be talking about political apathy in both societies. In America, people are getting much more engaged with politics, especially the youths who are taking the hardest impact. I feel that this is due to the failures of the current government to rid the nation of problems such as debts, which are haunting them now. I feel that Americans want change. The youths in particular are concerned of their future. They are afraid that they would go unemployed and that this would lead to them suffering for much of their lives. That is why they are taking an interest in politics. They are taking a interest in their lives. They want to have a person who can help change and solve the current situation they are in now, which is haunting them now. Personally, I would take an interest in politics as it concerns my future, which is the case of these Americans currently. However, in China, people are much more disengaged with politics and in particular are the youths in China. Through the interactions I had with Chinese students during my time in BSC, I realized that they do not talk much about politics. Instead, the normal discussion topic would be studies and also sports. They do not really care about the economic development of the nation. I realized that they do not really take an interest in the politics of the country. I feel that this is due to the economic progress China has. I feel that with a better economic situation in China, the people do not feel that there is a need to change anything currently. They are contented with what they are having now. They are enjoying life and benefitting from the economic success and progress of China. However, I feel that being disengaged with politics would result in the stagnation of the progress of the nation. They would be the leaders of the future and would take the reins of the country sooner or later. If they do not understand the politics in their country, I feel that they would not make a rather huge impact on the nation.

Secondly, I would be discussing about the education in both societies. In America, they are trying to change the education system. I feel that this is because they are failing to produce sufficient graduates in sciences and engineering. Math scores throughout America rank well below China. They want to change their education such that they are able to reproduce the same results the Chinese education system has produced. They want to replicate the diligence that China students have. They want to shift towards a more strict, disciplined teaching environment that math and science. I feel that with this, there would be progress in America. By looking at the education system of others, they are trying to improve. I feel that by striking a balance between the flexibility in their current system and the strict system in China, America could produce much more graduates. America could produce graduates with much more quality. And America could benefit from the change in education in the near future as these youths are the ones who would be the leaders of America in the near future. Meanwhile in China, they are not making much change to their current system. I think that they do not see the need to change the education system as the current system is producing good results. However, I feel that this would be a problem for China in the near future. In my opinion, if they continue to have this strict and rigid system, the students produce would be rigid and not flexible too. This would not be a good thing if the students want to travel abroad. I feel that these rigidness in their system, whereby there is emphasis on memorization, would prove costly as the students would not have an easy time to think of original and creative ideas. I feel that this would in turn stagnate the progress of China as the youths, who are the potential leaders of the country, would not be able to come up with new ways and ideas to help improve the country. Hence, stagnating the progress of China.

In conclusion, I feel that America is the more progressive of the two societies. The current situation they are in resulted in them wanting to change, which I feel would benefit the country in the near future, hence, giving them progress. Whereas I feel that progress in China would just stagnate. 

Reflective Journal 1

Cultural intelligence is very important if one wants to strive in other cultures. Cultural intelligence would come in handy when a person wants to interact with people from other cultures, be it in doing business or just making friends.

In class, a video on cultural intelligence was shown. It was a video on commercials made by HSBC, a bank. It showed some different practices in different cultures. It showed that if a person does not truly understand another person’s culture, there would most definitely be misunderstanding which might lead to undesired outcomes. The first question asked was what message the video was trying to give to viewers. To me, the video aims to tell viewers the importance of cultural intelligence, not only in doing business but also in daily get-along with other people of other cultural background. The video also wants to tell viewers that HSBC is a bank that is able to do business with anyone in any part of the world, regardless of culture, as it is the world’s local bank.

There were some discussions on cultural intelligence and a sharing of a classmate’s experience let to another topic for discussion, which was whether language could be a deciding factor to one’s cultural intelligence. I feel that language is important in communicating in that particular culture. Knowing their language would surely help in interactions between both parties. Knowing how to speak their language would surely enable better communication as a person can simply ask the other party about their culture straight away. This would surely help in getting a better relation with those of other cultural background. However, language is not really that important. It is impossible to know the language of so many different cultures. I feel that taking an interest in that particular culture and knowing what they practice and believe is important. Even without being able to speak their language, with an understanding of that particular culture, one would know the appropriate actions to take under different circumstances.  Hence, one does not need to truly understand the language of that culture to be able to get along well with the people of that culture, although it is rather useful to know how to speak that particular language as this aids in communication with the people of that culture.

At the end of the lesson, a classmate made his view on measuring a person’s cultural intelligence with a number. I agree with him that cultural intelligence could not be fully measured and quantified using a number. He also said that the best way to truly understand a person’s cultural intelligence is through observing that certain individual when he or she goes to a place of different culture and the action he or she would take to handle the situation. I do agree with him on that as people react differently under different circumstances. Every single person has their own unique way of handling a certain situation and there is no perfect way of handling a situation. I believe that every individual’s action and handling of situations is based on their personality. Some might be bold in their actions, while some might be more passive about it. Everyone would approach a situation with different ways. By observing a person when he handles a situation, the outcome would give us a better understanding of his cultural intelligence as different methods of approaching a situation would have different outcomes. Measuring a person’s cultural intelligence purely by numbers is not an accurate measure to his or her cultural intelligence. A person’s cultural intelligence cannot be simply quantified using a simple number. However, it can be a rough gauge of that particular individual’s cultural intelligence.

I feel that having cultural intelligence is really useful. With a good cultural intelligence, a person would be able to grasp the culture of others much easily. He or she would be much more aware of the believes and practices of the other culture. With this, I would be able to communicate with them better and by not doing something offensive in their culture, as most cultures have differing views on different matters. Furthermore, with a good cultural intelligence relations with people of other cultures could be fostered much more easily. In a rapidly globalizing world, interactions with people of other cultural backgrounds would be inevitable. People would go on overseas business trips, to discuss business deals with potential business partners who are from a different culture. Having a good CQ competency would definitely come in handy while doing business with other people and also help one in getting along with those people much more easily. With good cultural intelligence, one would know the appropriate actions to take when faced with different situations posed by different cultures.  Hence, cultural intelligence is indeed important.