The problem of women, their active integration into society and the recognition of their rights, is an issue that has come a long way through history. In many ways, the approach to this subject depends on or is strongly interrelated with the social structure and the specific culture of the region in which it is studied. This paper aims to address some considerations about the gender-negotiation relationship from the point of view of the elements that the bibliography on the matter offers, and also present approaches to the problem in Cuba.
Introduction
The problem of women and their active integration into society is an issue that has come a long way through history. A momentous achievement of the last century was the recognition, through consensus in international events, of the validity of the gender approach and the principle of equality between women and men. This principle is expressed in laws and constitutions of various countries that assumes that “the different behaviors, aspirations and needs of women and men are valued, considered, and promoted in the same way; that their rights, responsibilities and opportunities do not depend on whether they are born male or female ”(UNDP, 2006).
However, although a global reflection on the subject is promoted and work is done from the discursive and legislative aspects to understand its scope, there is still much to advance in terms of the generic approach to problems in practice. In fields such as politics, peacemaking and the economy, there is still a lack of "reading from the other side, from the hidden side of history and for which we have not had a say in the decisions that will most seriously affect our future" (Rivera-Santander 2005).
In many ways, the irruption in the subject of gender is strongly interrelated with the social structure and the specific culture of the region in which it is investigated. Gender determines what is expected, allowed and valued in a woman or a man in a given context, therefore, it also refers to the social relationships that are established between them. It is a sociocultural construction and, therefore, specific to each culture and changing over time.
Despite the advances and the massive entry of women into the labor market, gender equality has not yet become a complete reality. The assumption of managerial positions and responsibilities is one of the controversial fields in which women find their way through difficulties that transcend labor relations and are mixed with the personal, the psychological and the family from others, but also from the woman herself.
Within management issues, negotiation is one of the activities in which men and women dispute the possibilities of obtaining greater success, although, like so many others, it has been considered a “men's profession”, until the middle of the last century, and even today it is the object of discrimination in some regions of the world.
This paper aims to address some considerations about the gender-negotiation relationship from the point of view of the elements that the bibliography on the matter offers, and also present approaches to the problem in Cuba.
Development
Negotiating is an everyday act, present in almost all the acts that human beings perform when interacting with others to obtain resources or solve situations that conflict with various alternatives.
In this order, it can be defined in a simple way that negotiation is the process through which two or more parties dialogue directly with the aim of reaching agreements, preferably beneficial to all, on issues in which there are some differences, disputes or controversies. (Alamillo, 2007).
Over the years and the development of commercial and exchange relations, negotiation, an informal activity by definition as part of spontaneous communication every day, has become an important tool for reaching agreements in many activities that they carry binding commitments; and, therefore, in a discipline of study within business and management sciences.
From this point of view, there are innumerable theoretical and empirical approaches that have been made about the negotiating process and the determining factors of its success; being of tacit recognition among the authors of the subject, the essential role that the preparation and self-control of the negotiator play as the central axis of any negotiation situation.
Many investigations address aspects or characteristics that a good or bad negotiator must or must not have in order to successfully face a negotiating process. These characteristics that all human beings have, whether men or women, according to their experience, education, psychological health, etc.
Although, women have been tacitly considered as conciliatory because of “our little involvement in wars, because of the gender role that we have had to live in procreation and in sustaining life, because of our role as mothers, because we are the survivors, due to our culture and negotiation ethics, and for many other reasons ”(Zabala G, 2006) this consideration has poor application in world practice. An example of this is that, despite the road traveled, global statistics show low levels of employment for women, expressed in that for every ten senior executives there is only one woman. (Arnedo, 2006).
Thus, in different cultures the problem arises in different ways. Japanese culture, for example, while trying to adapt to modernity and Western business conditions, does not promote the negotiating role of women. Their teams are predominantly made up of men and they are not comfortable with women playing this role. This is even worse in the Arab world, since they flatly refuse to dialogue with women at negotiating tables, since they consider that they are not trained to adequately perform in this role.
However, many studies on productivity recommend the promotion of women for business management since they have more profitable skills for the efficiency of production systems, such as group work, solidarity, openness and flexibility. (Arnedo, 2006) In this same order, some theorists promote hypotheses about the relevance or not of feminine qualities in the way a negotiator “should” behave.
These theories are questionable from the point and moment in which human differences are valid for both sexes. That is, there are no identical people, therefore, equal behaviors cannot be expected. The behavior of a negotiator at the time of facing a conflict is different from that of another, although both have received the same preparation and have the same data.
The truth is that, both between men and women, there are different negotiator “profiles”; if somehow the behaviors most used to carry out these processes could be classified. However, it has been common to reduce these differences to "brain type" in the case of men and "emotional type" in the case of women.
This restriction is unacceptable from the correct perspective of gender, since, according to this, it is wrong to automatically assume that men and women experience the same problems in the same way or that what works for men will work the same way for women. (UNDP, 2006) But maintaining this line of thought becomes difficult after centuries of different rules.
International studies on women negotiators express experiences of inequalities in two senses: on the one hand, undervaluation or even rejection of negotiation schemes presented by women and, on the other, self-limitations of the woman herself when assuming the role.
The first aspect is a behavior that has been decreasing over the years, and whose tendency is to decrease even more since "they" have shown equal possibilities of developing successful negotiations by applying principles and techniques inherent to management sciences, to the exercise of leadership positions, group work and performance in social relationships.
However, it is important to note that the biological and the physical have their part or take their place in the negotiations. Beyond equal rights, it is unquestionable that there are differences between the sexes, which, far from distancing them, should make them complementary. Sometimes some women adopt “masculine” patterns of behavior in order to be accepted as more professional and on the contrary, this can generate more rejection than approval.
Regarding the second aspect, the researcher Clara Coria highlights that the greatest female obstacles are subjective and unconscious, and that is why it is so difficult to recognize and eliminate them. The negotiation process requires understanding that the interests of others are as valid as your own and that is more difficult for women because they have been prepared to believe that they must satisfy the wishes of others, and that when they satisfy their own they are selfish. (Coria, 2005).
The truth is that this is, without a doubt, a more difficult issue as it is related to the construction of psychological structures in women as a result of centuries of "male domination", which, moreover, have been and are still reflected in the systems educational and teaching.
Cuban negotiators.
Many of the problems associated with the need to implement the gender approach do not constitute a difficulty in Cuba, since in our country the denigrating and pejorative treatment of women has been eliminated and the creation of policies for access to Cuban women to social benefits, the elevation of their cultural level and the effort to ensure that the image of women responds to the profound changes that have occurred in their lives; as the will of the Cuban state since the triumph of the Revolution in 1959.
Our constitution in article 44 of chapter VI on equality states that: "the State guarantees that women are offered the same opportunities and possibilities as men, in order to achieve their full participation in the development of the country." It also maintains that “Women and men enjoy equal rights in economic, political, cultural, social and family matters. (…) The State strives to create the conditions that are conducive to the realization of the principle of equality. ” (Fernández Rius, 2002).
However, elements still persist, above all cultural elements that require attention in terms of gender issues. The struggle between old and new paradigms occurs in a complex course of advances and setbacks, marked by the will to change, but also marked by lags and stereotyped conceptions. One of the most controversial aspects may be the arrival of women to managerial positions and the performance of complex business functions. The negotiator role, inherent in many managerial job descriptions, falls within these controversial roles.
A small study carried out with female managers from the center of the country reveals that only 30% of the sample recognizes, without hesitation, as negotiator, even though they all perform this function as part of their work. One of the causes of this fact is not believing that they are capable of such a complex role, a belief associated with the undervaluation of their own feminine capacities. (Barbosa, Mesa and Machado, 2007).
The research itself shows significant differences in how the women who were taken as a sample assume the role of negotiators, showing three different criteria:
Some do not see a relationship between gender and negotiation. This is the case of women who occupy senior management positions and whose long career allows them to depart from gender canons by expressing how they face their management responsibilities.
This response can be considered logical and frequent in Cuban women since the Cuban government from the first years of the Revolution gave great importance to women and adopts as a principle the defense of their human rights and fundamental freedoms.
In another group are those who see the gender / negotiation relationship as positive.
These are women who consider that their gender allows them to be more careful with details, more conciliatory and more creative in seeking solutions, which allows them to better cope with conflicts. It is necessary to emphasize that these skills would always be nuanced by the experience and education that people experience.
Some women perceive the gender / negotiation relationship as disadvantageous. They are women who describe very negative experiences regarding the achievement of their acceptance by superiors and subordinates, and attribute this lack of acceptance to their condition as females. They express that, on many occasions, they are undervalued, since the effort and results they obtain despite the "double shift" are not fully recognized.
This answer may also be logical if we take into account the prevalence even in our country of a macho culture, where the overload of women within the family prevails, and there are still phenomena associated with machismo such as professional zeal between representatives of both sexes and the lack of confidence in the potentialities of women.
On the other hand, 68% of the sample acknowledged that they commonly feel uncomfortable in conflict situations and try to avoid confrontations. However, they allege that confronting conflicts, although it is not seen as “desirable”, is a constant practice since the daily life of women is overloaded with conflicts due to the multiplicity of roles and functions that they assume socially, family and work. They also express that they perceive the confrontation more frequently when their opponent is male and that, usually, they are subject to work pressure, especially by male personnel with greater authority.
Finally, 64% recognize that the negotiator stereotype they "visualize" is a man and 100% agree that the important thing is to train the best qualities to be successful in negotiations.
These data show that, although our country exhibits unquestionable achievements in terms of incorporating women into society and achieving equal rights, there is still much to do from the cultural, communication and pedagogical aspects in order to achieve better gender relations in basic activities of the business context that are influenced by socially determined stereotypes.
• The irruption in the gender issue is strongly interrelated with the social structure and the specific culture of the region in which it is investigated. Gender is a sociocultural construction and, therefore, specific to each culture and changing over time. From this point of view, bargaining has been considered a “men's profession” until the middle of the last century, and even today it is the object of discrimination in some regions of the world.
• International studies on women negotiators express experiences of inequalities in two senses: on the one hand, undervaluation or even rejection of negotiation schemes presented by women (an aspect that tends to decrease with socioeconomic development) and on the other, self-limitations of the woman herself when assuming the role (a more complex element that comes from perceptions historically conditioned and reinforced by patterns of teaching and education).
• In our country, although policies are promoted that endorse female development in managerial positions, cultural elements still persist that make women feel differences in the way they assume the role of negotiators.
Bibliography
• Alamillo, Alba (2007) “The art of negotiation”. www.gestiopolis.com
• Arnedo, Elena (2006) "The century of women" Women in the network. www.nodo50.org/mujeresred
• Barbosa, G, Mesa G and Machado, N (2007) “Women negotiators: The gender problem in the field of trade agreements” Research report. Central University of Las Villas.
• Carosio, Alba (2004) “Equity and gender approach” www.ucv.com
• Coria, Clara (2005) “Many women defend the interests of others better than their own” www.mujeresinfronteras.com
• Fernández Rius, L (2002) “Women and gender studies in Cuba”. Faculty of Psychology. University of Havana.
• Fisher and Ury, (1998) Yes, okay. How to negotiate without giving in? Prentice Hall Iberoamericana. Mexico.
• PNUT (2006) "Integration of the gender approach in UNDP projects"
• Rivera-Santander Mieses, Maria Adela (2005) "Market Access: a gender approach. Effects on women of free trade and trade agreements ”Mesa de Trabajo Mujeres y Economía –REMTE Colombia.
• Zabala González, Begoña (2006) “The voice of women in the resolution of the conflict: Notes from feminism” www.educarueca.org.
