Gender Roles Case Studies

Gender roles business case studies agreeing and disagreeing practice

In pairs, discuss the best solution to the problems below:

The last manager of the warehousing section of the company left because of all the sexist language, topless calendars etc. The best qualified candidate to replace her is also a woman.

There are far more many men than women being employed in your company. A report on the reasons for this suggests it is mainly because the graphology (handwriting analysis) reports of the female applicants suggests that they do not have the right personality.

The best applicant for the manager’s job in a foreign subsidiary is a woman, but the culture of that country makes it difficult for local men to accept being subordinate to a woman.

The best applicant for a job is a man, but you feel like you need to boost the number of female executives in your company.

The person in the HR department in charge of company policies on sex discrimination and other equal opportunities is a man, but you think maybe the decisions will be more likely to be accepted by the female workforce if it comes from a woman.

A woman who is up for promotion has openly spoken to her colleagues about her desire to have children in the near future.

The chairman of the company is an old English gentleman who always looks out for the female Head of Marketing. However, she just wants to be treated like all the other executives and thinks special treatment undermines her authority.

 

When you have finished discussing the topics above, match them to the advice below.

 

Send the person on a training course before they start work

Send that person’s future colleagues on a training course before that person starts work

Explain the situation to that person or their future colleagues, one to one or in a group meeting

Choose someone of a particular gender to avoid problems, even if they are not the best qualified or most experienced candidate

Keep the present system in place

Scrap the present system

Make minor changes to the present system

Keep the present system but think of some way of making it appear to the people involved that it has changed

Discuss your opinions of the ideas above.

Brainstorm language that you could have used in your discussion into the boxes below.

Complete agreement/ Strong agreement	Disagreeing
Limited agreement	Strong disagreement

Put the words below into the boxes above, then brainstorm more (including more formal expressions).

• You’re not kidding!
• You took the words right out of my mouth!
• I wholeheartedly agree
• You’ve gotta be having me on!
• Well, maybe, but....
• That’s just what I was about to say
• I’m in complete agreement
• I can see where you are coming from, but...
• I wouldn’t quite put it that way myself.
• I suppose you’re right
• Come off it!
• Surely not!
• I’m of the same opinion
• You really think so?
• No, definitely not!

Use similar language to discuss other groups ideas for dealing with the problems.