CULTURE

AND
GENDER
PREPARED BY:
THERESA ELEAZAR
RUTH ELIZALDE
 Relationship of Gender and Culture
to Mainstream Psychology

Lesson Some Definitions

Outline
Cross-Cultural Research on Gender

How Does Culture Influence Gender?

Ethnicity and Gender in the United

States
GUESS THE WORD
 NERGDE
ESOERTEYPT
ENDRGE LOESR
NARODYGNY
The Relationship of Gender and
Culture to Mainstream Psychology

Beginning 20 to 30 years ago they found that most research was

conducted using men as subjects, and most information
presented about “people” in academic textbooks and university
courses was based on information gathered from men.
This gender bias also affected what scholars considered
important to study, the relative status of different studies and
topics, and the probability and outlet for publication.
 SOME DEFINITIONS
SEX
refers to the biological and
physiological differences
between men and women, the
most obvious being the
anatomical differences in
their reproductive systems.
SEX ROLES SEXUAL IDENTITY
is used to describe the behaviors is used to describe the
and patterns of activities men
degree of awareness and
and women may engage in that
recognition of sex and sex
are directly related to their
roles an individual may have.
biological differences and process
of reproduction.
 SOME DEFINITIONS
GENDER IDENTITY
refers to the degree to
GENDER
which a person has
refers to the behaviors or awareness that he or
patterns of activities that a she adopts a particular
society or culture deems gender role.
appropriate for men and
women. GENDER
GENDER ROLE STEREOTYPES

refers to the degree to refers to the

which a person adopts the psychological or
gender-specific behaviors behavioral characteristics
ascribed by his or her typically associated with
culture. men and women.
 Cross-Cultural
Research on Gender

GENDER STEREOTYPES GENDER ROLES AND SELF-CONCEPT

HOFSTEDE'S STUDY PSYCHOLOGICAL GENDER

DIFFERENCES
Culture and Gender Stereotypes
The William and Best studies
The best-known study of gender stereotypes
across cultures is one conducted by Williams and
Best (1982).
Used a questionnaire known as the Adjective
Check List (ACL)
The results indicated a high degree of pancultural
agreement across all the countries studied in the
characteristics associated with men and women.
 Culture and Gender Stereotypes

William and Best studies

Berry and colleagues (1992) have Williams and Best (1982)
suggested that "this degree of conducted a second type of analysis

consensus is so large that it may on their data in order to summarize

be appropriate to suggest that the their major findings.

Japan and South Africa- rated male
researchers have found a
characteristics as more favorable
psychological universal when it
than the female
comes to gender stereotypes”
Italy and Peru- rated female
characteristics as more favorable
Culture and Gender Stereotypes

Williams, Satterwhite, and Best Williams, Satterwhite, Best,

(1999) and Inman

took the ACL data from 25 countries

in their previous work and rescored

them in terms of five personality gender stereotype differentiation
dimensions known as the Big Five, or tended to be higher in countries that
Five Factor Model of Personality. were conservative and hierarchical
found that males were perceived to
while countries that valued
have significantly higher scores than
females on all traits except harmony and egalitarianism, had
agreeableness less traditional sex role
orientations,

this set of studies informs us that gender stereotypes around

the world are rather stable, and are related to interesting and important psychological
characteristics
Culture and Gender Stereotypes
Other Studies

Rao and Rao (1985), examined sex role stereotypes in the United States and India;
Trommsdorff and Iwawaki (1989) examined gender role differences between
German and Japanese adolescents.

How gender role stereotypes develop:

Albert and Porter (1986) reported that gender stereotypes increase with age,
Munroe, Shimmin, and Munroe (1984) found that children’s understanding of
gender and sex role preferences appear to be related to cognitive development
Fejes (1992) argues that the way the media have historically portrayed women parallels the
way media have historically portrayed people of color
Culture, Gender Role Ideology, and Self-Concept
Gender role ideology
judgments about what males and females ought to be like or ought to do.
Williams and Best (1990)
Gender role ideology
they asked subjects in 14 countries to
complete the ACL in relation to what
they believe they are, and what they
would like to be.
Result:
Result:
Egalitarian scores were found in the
Netherlands, Germany, and Finland;
the most traditional ideologies were
found in Nigeria, Pakistan, and India.
Williams and Best
Self-concept
same students in the same 14 countries rated
each of the 300 adjectives of the ACL according
to whether it was descriptive of themselves or
their ideal self.
masculinity/femininity: both self and ideal-self
ratings for men were more masculine than were
women’s ratings, and vice versa, across all
countries
however, both men and women in all countries
rated their ideal self as more masculine than
their actual self
Culture, Gender Role Ideology, and Self-Concept

Gibbons and her

Gibbons
colleagues
adolescents’ attitudes toward gender
conducted several cross-cultural roles that involved 265 international
studies involving almost 700
students, ages 11 to 17, who attended
adolescents ranging in age from 11 to
school in the Netherlands
17 years from Spain, Guatemala, and
Sri Lanka
Result:
Result:
most important quality in these girls were less traditional than boys
countries for both boys and girls was adolescents from wealthier and more
being “kind and honest,” a individualistic countries were less
characteristic that was not gender- traditional than adolescents from poorer
specific. and more collectivist countries
Culture, Gender Role Ideology, and Self-Concept

Gibbons’s study of Sri

A study of Palestinian women and
Lankan adolescents (de Silva
their families found that one’s level
et al., 1992) indicates that
of education, participation in
gender role ideologies may be
political activities, and employment
changing as societies
are not major factors predicting
undergo change.
more egalitarian family roles
Mule and Barthel (1992)
(Huntington, Fronk, & Chadwick,
describe social change in
2001)
Egypt
 Hofstede's Study
Hofstede (1980) conducted a large-scale survey of work-related values in a major
multinational corporation.

Masculinity (MA)- refers to the degree to which a culture will foster, encourage, or maintain
differences between males and females.

Japan, Austria, Venezuela, and Italy had the highest MA scores

Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden had the lowest scores.

MAJOR POINTS:

men and women engage in
 The behaviors  Cultures vary in
cultures will arrive at different
produce different psychological outcomes that how they act on these
ways of dealing with differences have direct ramifications for actual life
gender differences
between men and women. behaviors (such as work-related behaviors)
Psychological Gender Differences across
Cultures

psychological differences between genders can be

considered a product of the differences between males and
females because of the division of labor and behaviors
surrounding reproduction.

Cross-cultural literature on psychological differences

between the genders highlights three general areas of
difference:
perceptual/spatial/cognitive abilities,
conformity and obedience, and
aggressiveness (Berry et al., 1992).
Perceptual/spatial/cognitive differences
Common folklore is that males are better at
Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) also concluded
mathematical and spatial reasoning tasks,
that males tend to do better on spatial tasks and other
whereas females are better at verbal
tasks having a spatial component.
comprehension tasks.

However, Berry (1966) pointed out that such Berry (1976) and his colleagues conducted a study
differences do not appear to exist among males and in which a block design task was given to males and
females of the Inuit culture in Canada. females in 17 different cultures

Born, Bleichrodt, and Van der Flier

(1987) reported that although no gender differences
in overall intelligence were found, gender differences
on various subtests of intelligence did occur.
 Conformity and Obedience

This stereotype is no doubt related to

the traditional gender roles females
One of the most common and males have occupied, with
gender role stereotypes is males traditionally being “head of
that females are more the household,” making primary
conforming and obedient decisions over big-ticket items that
than males. involve the family
 Other
psychological
Aggressiveness
constructs

Common gender stereotype is that Gender differences exist on a

males are more aggressive than
wide variety of psychological
females.
Indeed, there is support for this constructs, and that cultures
stereotype in all cultures for which differ in the exact degree and
documentation exists (Block, 1983; nature of those gender
Brislin, 1993). differences.
Males account for a
Some research has examined
disproportionate amount of violent
crime in both industrialized and
how such culture and gender
nonindustrialized societies. differences come to manifest
themselves
How Culture Affects Gender?
The process of learning gender roles begins very
early in life.
Gender is a construct that develops in children
as they are socialized in their environments
Sandra Bem (1981), a prominent theorist
on gender, argues that gender is one of the
fundamental ways we organize information and
understand experiences about the world
All cultures encourage particular behavioral
differences between the genders and help to define
the roles, duties, and responsibilities appropriate
for males and females.
Ethnicity and Gender in the United States

The research that exists typically compares African American males

and females to European American males and females.
African American males are more likely than European American
males to live below the poverty line, die at an early age, make less
money, be in jail, and be executed for a crime
The number of PhDs awarded to African American women increased
by 16% between 1977 and 1986 (Allen & Santrock, 1993),
Some research has suggested that the gender identities of African
Americans are more androgynous than those of European Americans.
Ethnicity and Gender in the United States

Androgyny
refers to a gender identity that involves endorsement of both male and female
characteristics
Harris (1996), for example, administered the Bem Sex Role Inventory, a scale that is
widely used to measure gender identity
found that both African American males and females were more androgynous than
European American males and females.

Many Asian American families have carried on traditional gender roles

associated with males and females from their original culture.
 Ethnicity and Gender in the United States
Machismo
concept related to Mexican American gender role differentiation that is
characterized by many traditional expectations of the male gender role, such as being
unemotional, strong, authoritative, aggressive, and masculine.
recent research has shown that these gender differences for Mexican American males
and females are also on the decrease.
Gender role differentiation for Native Americans seems to depend heavily on the
patriarchal or matriarchal nature of the tribal culture of origin.

Certainly, the picture we have painted for these ethnic groups is not
universally true or salient for all males and females within them.
 Conclusion

Gender roles are different for males and females in all cultures.
As we meet people from different cultural backgrounds, we may
encounter gender roles that are different from our own.
This is a delicate balancing act for all of us, because there is a fine line
between cultural relativity (a desired state of comprehension) and the
unacceptable justification of oppression
 REFERENCE:

Matsumoto, D., & Juang, L.

Culture and Psychology
 Thank You
Do you have any questions before we go?