Passport To China Essay

Gender equality has been an issue in the world for the past century. The contrast between men and women in China begins at home and translates into workplace expectations. In China, the expectation in the home is that men are superior to women and that she should be obliged to serve her husband. According to the Passport to China, “Confucianism is still a major factor in Chinese culture. A direct quote from the Passport to China represents this well. “The Confucian husband rules over his wife as a lord rules his people.” This essentially means that the husband is superior to the woman entirely in households that still maintain the Confucian attitudes of the past. Although men are still superior in the household, over the years women have

This is more important for a woman, as they are considered equal to men by the written law, but not necessarily by the spirit of the law. The first fact to be aware of is that if you are a woman in a leadership position going to China for a business trip, it is important that you are well prepared for the differences in culture. Passport to China provides a convenient example to demonstrate what the expectation is when sending a woman in a leadership position to China. It says, “An introduction letter that clearly indicates the female leader’s position, accomplishments, and credentials should be sent to China in advance” (p. 39). This implies that if a woman were to be present at a business meeting unexpectedly the Chinese participants may be surprised or even annoyed. Chinese businessmen normally assume that for a Westernized Women to be in power, she must be very competent at her job. When negotiating and speaking, the women in power should always be the first one to answer the questions, and not have the other attendees speak out of turn. A good tip to have when speaking with a Chinese man is that he will typically avoid eye contact with a woman. This a natural thing, that men commonly do when dealing with women in business. In the US it is considered acceptable to speak about women’s position of power outside of the workplace, but in China, it is