Childhood Experience and Developing a “True Self” in Adulthood

Influence of Childhood Experience and the Likelihood of Developing a “True Self” in Adulthood
Student
Institution
Course
Professor
Date
Influence of Childhood Experience and the Likelihood of Developing a “True Self” in Adulthood
Introduction
In the past 70 years, the People's Republic of China, established in1949, has transformed from a closed agricultural economy to a market-oriented socialist economy (Wen, 2016). During this period, China has been at the center of globalization because it is a global destination for manufacturing with the fastest-growing consumer market or as an importer. A key trait across the development period is the above-average world record participation of women in the labor force. A famous saying in the Mao era held that "women hold up half the sky," implying the critical role of women in this society (Qing, 2020). However, despite the increasing participation of women in different sectors, their representation at the decision-making level (leadership) has remained consistently low (Sun & Li, 2017). This low representation can be understood through agency and structure concepts considering these developments in which different upbringing of girls and dictates leadership traits and abilities.
Several theories and hypotheses have been fronted to explain this phenomenon. According to Sun and Li (2017), social expectations limit women's personal educational and career choices based on their interests. At the same time, family and society emphasize women's roles as mothers and homemakers. This is even though the educational level of women has been increasingly closer to men. In this view, the current paper proposes that factors that limit women and their aspiration for leadership positions play at the micro-household and classroom level. These are the smallest units in which what is acquired, either consciously or unconsciously, can potentially shape outcomes in adulthood. In essence, the extent to which future leadership aspirations are not only shaped within institutions but begins at home and is underpinned by the long-held stereotypes and prejudice over the role of women in society.
Thus, the societal pressures manifested in household and classroom setting on girls contort them to the structure of gender roles. Despite the increasing level of agency that comes with age and societal progress; women struggle to find a position in decision-making leadership positions. According to Emirbayer and Mische (2011), human agency refers to temporarily constructed engagement by actors of a structural environment. The interplay of judgment, imagination, and habit produces and transforms those structures in an interactive response. In other words, agency implies free will, while structure limits free will. In their definition, Emirbayer and Mische (2011) established three vital aspects of agency; it is informed by the past, oriented towards the future, and the present. The past represents existing stereotypes, prejudice, beliefs about leadership that have been shape by history. The present refers to how these factors are utilized today and the future refers to how today’s decisions shape leadership perceptions across gender in the future. In the same manne...