Cross-Cultural Studies of Gender Roles By Joel Murphy

The Different kinds of Culture Traditional: Men and Women have different and clearly defined gender roles within society. Egalitarian: There is some choice and flexibility over gender roles, and men and women are more equal.

Hofstede Hofstede proposed 4 other dimensions; Masculine (UK, US, Japan): High regard for stereotypical male qualities, such as achievement and competition. Feminine (India, Pakistan): A high value is placed on stereotypically feminine qualities, such as interpersonal harmony and co-operation. Individualistic: Value identity through somebodies personal choices and achievements. Collectivist: Value on membership of family, work and community groups.

Gender roles in other cultures Margaret Mead studied 3 tribes in New Guinea, and found very different gender roles from Western society; Arapesh: Both genders behaved femininely. Mundugumor: Both sexes were Macho. Tchambuli: Women were possessive, definite, robust and practical whereas men were flirtatious. The opposite to Western culture. However, when Margaret extended her studies to the indigenous peoples in Samoa, she changed her original viewpoint. In all societies men were more aggressive than women, suggesting some behaviours are innate. Though he degree at which these behaviours are expressed is relative to that particular culture.

Further Studies Whiting and Edwards (1975) looked at 11 different non-Western cultures and found that girls were given domestic roles within the house, spending time with adults and younger children which made them more responsible. Whereas boys were assigned feeding and herding tasks outside the house, spending time with their peers and making them more immature (eventually catching up to females in adolescence). “Effectively children become the company they keep” -Bee 1995. Chang, Guo and Hau (2002) Compared 145 Amreican and 173 Chinese students. Using an 10-item Egalitarian gender roles attitudes scale, they found that American males and females emphasised gender equality at home and in the Family. This may be because gender equality is taken for granted in communist China.