Women's roles: A Comparative Analysis

Generally speaking Ireland and Germany have many surface level differences. From interviews and research I found that their are actually a lot of similarities too. German/ Austrian culture display a more traditional view on women’s roles. Were as Ireland displays a more progressive view on women’s roles. Through a few different lenses like Hofstede and the feminist movement we can hopefully understand why this is.

Equality for all has and probably will always be a hot topic amongst us. It's a global issue but for these countries specifically we will look at equality for women. According to Melena Leitner from German says, “I don’t think women are treated fairly.” Rachel from YWCH in Ireland says, “I don’t feel like I’m being treated unfairly.” We see that two people from two different cultures don’t feel the same. The two areas I focused on were women in the workplace and house roles. This is where the most similarities shine through. (M. Leitner, personal communication, September 27, 2017). (R. Unknown, personal communication, November 13, 2017).

(Women in Germany, n.d.) says, “Gender equality in the German workplace is not a given: Women earn almost a quarter less than men on average, and government figures on International Women's Day show women are underrepresented in top jobs.” This correlates well with what Melena said. She also mentioned to me that some companies in Germany have quotas to fill about how many women to hire. This leads to companies just filling positions and not treating them well. As for Ireland once women are in employment, women are likely to receive about a quarter less pay, while men are likely to both work and earn more according to (Ryan, n.d.). This is exactly what its like for German women who are employed. That statement doesn’t correlate with what Rachel said though. She feels like she is being treated fair but that could be because she works at a Christian organization. The only thing that doesn’t line up are my interviews. I had two people say that they feel women are treated equal if not better then men sometimes. It might be the luck of the draw on the people I talked to. Others might not agree with them.

As far women’s roles in a personal setting like home. (Ryan, n.d.) says, “Women are also still overwhelmingly more likely (98%) to be a stay-at-home parent.” From my interview in German from the lady on the train that it's a common thing to leave your job to take care of the kids. Her mother who is in her 50s had a conversation with her husband when they started having kids. They agreed to whoever made the most money would keep their job and the lesser would stay with the kids. This women also just graduated law school and said, “times were different then and I wouldn’t give up my career. I’m sure my husband and I could work something out.” Rachel from Ireland on the other hand said that her mother took a part time position instead of dropping it all together. This leads into my next topic about three waves. The generation one grows up in will sway your answer.

The three ways of feminism all push for something different. A little review never hurt. 1800s was the first wave of feminism. Pushing for the rights to vote. This didn’t happen till the 1900s. The ‘second-wave’ for feminism was devoted to the emergence of feminist activism in many European countries. They also focused on the workplace, sexuality, family and reproductive rights. Wave debates are noticeable still today. Especially for the ‘third-wave’. (Dean, 2015 p.379) says, “though some definitions of waves see the third-wave feminism as a ‘thing’ that can be studied, as a rigid set of positions, or as a particular cohort of people, we think it's more helpful to see it as a set of discourses that have different meanings and take on different effects in different contexts.” He is referring to more than just feminist. He is talking about gender with ethnicity, class, sexuality, disability and sometimes religion. This would explain why Rachel talked about how people are more for total equality not just men and women but for other social groups as well. It explains why the women on the train said her mother gave up her job. Each era that the women represent correlate with what wave was happening at the time.

Although these cultures scores are similar on the Hofstede masculinity scale you wouldn’t be able to tell based off of the surface. Ireland scores a 68 on the masculinity scale. This means a lot of different things. One part of it is that the country generally has separate gender roles. Germany sores a 66 so the same would be true for them too. After doing some research I found that a predictor for if a country is masculine or feminine depends on latitude (Country comparison, n.d.). This would make sense for why Germany and Ireland score so similarly. But Ireland has a correlation with longitude. Western Ireland had harsh weather and rough terrain. Because of that, women and men needed to put in all their efforts. Everyone had to work outside and do manual labor. It was essential if they wanted to survive. Whereas as Eastern Ireland like Dublin and such had more differentiated roles because the conditions were more stable according to Pete. (P. Unknown, personal communication, November 16, 2017). Within Ireland we see differences but if looking at the the country as a whole we see why it scores the way it does. Comparing the two countries as a whole and the general population that’s why they score so close and not a lot of differences are seen.

Just scratching the surfaces’ of these countries you will probably see a lot of differences. From the looks of it Ireland is much more progressive than Germany. Once you get into some research and digging we see that there are many similarities. Feminist movements, Hofstede, and many others are just tools to help us understand these cultures a little better and how they view women’s roles.

Sources:
Ryan, N. (n.d.). These are the main differences between men and women in Irish society. Retrieved, from http://www.thejournal.ie/gender-cso-report-ireland-1594492-Jul2014/

(www.dw.com), D. W. (n.d.). Women in Germany await workplace equality | Business | DW | 08.03.2016. Retrieved December 04, 2017, from http://www.dw.com/en/women-in-germany-await-workplace-equality/a-19099867

Country Comparison. (n.d.). Retrieved December 04, 2017, from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/poland/

Dean, J., & Aune, K. (2015). Feminism Resurgent? Mapping Contemporary Feminist Activisms in Europe. Social Movement Studies, 14(4), 375-395. doi:10.1080/14742837.2015.1077112