A Reflection On Cultural Humility

In my culture, rigid gender roles are enforced from the moment a child can communicate. Sex and gender in the Haitian community are used interchangeably. Men are expected to fulfil their duties as the “strong breadwinner” while women were expected to be submissive to their husbands and tend to the home and children (Benokraitis, 2015). Girls are taught to cook, clean, and care for the home, while boys are taught to be independent, vocal and financially stable. A husband does not feel the need to help in the domestic realm, as he is socialized into believing that it is not his responsibility. Religious affiliation plays an extensive role on many of the beliefs held by my family and culture. Many of the views I’ve previously held regarding gender roles have changed over the years.

For my first reflection I decided to use Identity as my focal point. While reading Readings for Diversity and social justice I found the topic of identity to be one of the most captivating. In the excerpt “Who am I?” by Beverly Daniel Tatum his idea and interpretation of the word reflected a lot upon my own. Tatum introduces identity by explaining its complexity and defining its characteristics: family dynamics, historical factors, social and political context.

In contrast to boys, girls were taught to be self-denying, and to be helpers to men. Corporal Punishment of children was even condemned even though practiced in the home.

When it comes to cultural humility and its importance within community health workers, it’s comparable to eating unhealthy fast food for many years and the health effects it has on the body. Yes, a person can live off of fast-food but it’s going to cause adverse health effects in the long run. Similar to community health workers without cultural humility, they will be able to perform their duties but will not be culturally sensitive nor will they be able to perform as an expert within their daily duties. This will ultimately cause for clients to be treated ways in which can offend them or go against beliefs or culture. Cultural humility allows community health workers to identify bias and discrimination when a client attempts to access healthy

Women were viewed inferiorly compared to men. They were expected to do all household chores, bear children, and obey their husband’s wish

When nurses are open minded they can understand how their own cultural beliefs can influence their understanding of other’s beliefs. As described by Levi, “we need to realize that we are likely to have biases about how others should behave based on our own cultural norms,” (p. 97). By using cultural humility nurses can continue to build on what they do know about a culture and reflect on how their own beliefs effect how they interact with patients of this culture. We must take ownership of our interactions with others while being aware of how we view cultural differences. “The essential aspect is to become aware of our own values, so that we can better understand the values of another,” (Roux and Halstead, p. 324). Nurses must be able to reflect on their own beliefs to realize how they view other cultures views. They must be able to set aside their own views to be able

Women: Women were in charge of the household. Raising children, chores, and staying in charge of husbands' businesses while they were away, etc.

Households were strictly patriarchal in which the man of the house made all the important decisions. Women's jobs at the time were mostly relegated to domestic service and occasional work at harvest time. The jobs were always of low pay, low status, and required little training. In addition to this females were not legally permitted to inherit land or property. This was the bleak life of a woman, with little hope or power, and always the subordinate of men.

Women, in general, were expected to be able to run their homes, taking care of their spouses and children in whatever form was needed at the

Throughout history, gender roles have been the foundation that determines the course of a civilization. These gender roles have undergone a change over time. It is important for every society to re-evaluate its preconceived ideas of gender and determine if that is still the norm for their society. When people think of gender roles we typically have set stereotypes in our head of what that means. Much of the time, what we believe, is not what is actually true. It is often argued what is right and what is wrong.

Then in society, men were portrayed as “dominant figures” and women were the “nurturers”. Men not only filled the fatherly role but they also usually earned the “breadwinning”, went to work all day, and financially provided for the wives and

Women were expected to basically be merely an object, even a trophy for their husbands. They were expected to stay home and clean, as well as cook. With all these expected tasks, women hardly had any time to branch out and figure out what they wanted to do with their life. They had no time for leisure activities of any kind because, of course, their activities involved taking care of the house. Women were also seen as the weaker sex, always submissive to their dominant male counterpart. Although the women were submissive, they were held to a higher moral standard. Adultery was twice shamed upon if committed by a woman rather than a man. (Hughes par.3) A woman could be stoned to death, but people would turn their cheek for a man while the woman still was expected to stay beside the man.

Women gathered food in groups; they had their own societies for ceremonial activity. They raised their children together until the children were about six or seven, at which point boys generally were sent to spend time with male relatives to be taught their roles in life. Girls remained with their mothers, learning the roles that they would eventually endeavor (Finch 44).

In this paper I will begin by defining personal culture and national culture. After, I will then elaborate my own personal and national culture. I will continue to talk about the subject with the person that I have chosen for my cultural group, my mother, and I will identify her personal and national culture. Lastly, I will talk about my own personality and how it has a connection with my own natural culture; knowing this is important, it lets us know who we are, and how we act with people who are from different cultures.

Their roles were still emphasized as wives and mothers. Women were viewed as naturally suited to a different social role than men, and sometimes known as inferior to men. This was a social issue because woman had to be told where they were allowed to go and what they were allowed to do according to their husbands.