1. Cross-cultural studies of gender roles

2. Learning objectives Explain ways of classifying different cultures
Describe studies which show gender role development in collectivist cultures
Understand difficulties in assessing the role of culture in gender development.

3. Different kinds of culture
Traditional
Egalitarian
Hofstede proposed 4 further dimensions
Masculine (e.g UK, US, Japan)
Feminine (e.g. India, Pakistan)
Individualistic
Collectivist

4. Margaret Mead (1930s) Anthropologist
Lived with different tribes in New Guinea
Interpretations of gender roles was different to Western societies
And different between tribes

5. Arapesh tribe
Men and women showed stereotypical behaviours similar to the West.

6. Mundugumor tribe
Both sexes behaved in a macho way

7. Tchambuli tribe
Gendered behaviour was the opposite of that expected in Western society.

8. Whiting and Edwards (1975)
Found gender roles were organised in similar ways across a range of traditional cultures.

9. Individualistic vs collectivist
Individualistic cultures tend to value independent behaviour (associated with males) and this was found in both male and female English Australians.

10. Collectivist cultures tend to favour feminine traits of caring and community awareness and this was found in both male and female Chinese Australians.

11. Differences within cultures
Individualistic cultures can be different.
E.g. northern Italians have less traditional ideas about gender compared with southern Italians.
Differences may also be found within collectivist cultures.