GENDER CONCEPTS

1.2.1. Masculinity and Femininity Across Cultures

This dimension focuses on how extent to which a society stress achievement or
nurture. Masculinity is seen to be the trait which emphasizes ambition, acquisition of
wealth, and differentiated gender roles. Femininity is seen to be the trait which stress
caring and nurturing behaviors, sexuality equality, environmental awareness, and more
fluid gender roles.

Discussion:

Hoftstede’s definitions:

“Masculinity stands for a society in which social gender roles are clearly distinct: Men are supposed to be
assertive, tough, and focused on material success; women are supposed to be more modest, tender, and
concerned with the quality of life.”

“Femininity stands for a society in which social gender roles overlap: Both men and women are supposed
to be modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life.”

Masculine & Feminine Cultures

Geert Hoftstede, a social psychologist, was one of the first people to define cultures by gendered
traits. His theory says that cultures can be categorized by gender based on how they stress the balance
between individual achievement and social nurturing. Moreover, Hofstede says that people within
societies often take on gender roles that are prescribed by whether a society is masculine or feminine.
According to Hofstede, a masculine culture or masculine society is one that stresses different
expectations for men and women. In a masculine culture, men are expected to be assertive, competitive,
and focused on material success. Women are expected to be nurturing and focused on people and quality
of life. In contrast, Hofstede says a feminine culture or feminine society is one where gender roles are
more fluid. Both men and women are expected to be nurturing and focused on people and quality of life.
It's important to note that Hofstede's descriptions of these cultural types are based on gender
stereotypes. That doesn't mean that every woman is nurturing and thinking about how to live a fulfilling
life or that every man is out to make the most money possible. It just means that those are the stereotypes.
Even within so-called masculine cultures, which stress the stereotypical gender roles, there are women
who are more focused on competition and achievement and men who are focused on nurturing people.
Of course, there are also people of both sexes that are focused on both achievement and also enjoying
time with the people around them.

Cultural Dimension Masculinity – Femininity

The cultural dimension Masculinity – Femininity says something about the expected behavior of
men and women in any given society.
To simplify it: in high scoring cultures, there seems to be relatively little role overlap; men are supposed
to provide for their families, be the head of the family and do manly tasks like taking the garbage out.
While in more feminine societies, there is more role overlap; here it is OK if a woman earns more than a
man and the “stay at home dad” is more accepted than in masculine societies.
So when it comes to culture and gender this would be the closest link to gender differences and gender
roles in society.
Take a look at the image below. This picture was taken during one of my trips to the Middle-East. A sign
like that would be impossible in a feminine country like Sweden, for instance.
What are the Gender Differences Within one Culture?
In any country in the world, you will find so called Intra-cultural differences; differences within one
country, say the American East coast and the American West coast. Or the differences between the North
and the South of Spain.
Differences within one country are called Intra-cultural differences; example a conversation
between two American citizens who both grew up on the farms of Georgia would be intracultural because
they will essentially have the same background and cultural orientations.
Differences between countries are called Inter-cultural differences; example a conversation
between a man who grew up in Nepal and a woman who grew up in Micronesia would probably be an
intercultural conversation because we could study how the different cultural backgrounds of the two
people affect their communication strategies towards each other.
There are definitely differences in gender roles within one country. In other words, American
women will be less masculine than their male countrymen.
The same will be true for the most feminine country in the world, Sweden; also there will the men
be more masculine than the women.

Figure 1.3. Gender in the Language of Social Media

A clear example is the following “Word Cloud“ that illustrate the use of words in Social Media of
English speaking men and women.
What you can clearly see is that English-speaking men use more forceful language than English-speaking
women.
However, when you compare English-speaking women with Swedish women, you will still see that there
is a big significant difference is between those two countries/groups when you look at the scores of these
countries on this masculinity and femininity dimension.

Examples of Masculinity Countries

• Japan (highest scoring country in the world!)

• USA (not surprisingly maybe)
• The UK
• Italy
• Nigeria

Examples of Feminine Countries

• The Netherlands
• Nordic Countries
• Iceland
• Chile
• Thailand

Individualism vs. Collectivism

The individualism vs. collectivism dimension considers the degree to which societies are integrated into
groups and their perceived obligations and dependence on groups.

• Individualism indicates that there is a greater importance place on attaining personal goals. A
person’s self-image in this category is defined as Ï”.
• Collectivism indicates that there is a greater importance placed on the goals and well-being of the
group. A person’s self-image in this category is defined as “We”.
Our society has a set of ideas about how we expect men and women to dress, behave, and present
themselves.

1.2.2. Gender Roles and Gender Division of Labor

Introduction:

Gender roles in society means how we’re expected to act, speak, dress, groom, and conduct
ourselves based upon our assigned sex. For example, girls and women are generally expected to dress
in typically feminine ways and be polite, accommodating, and nurturing. Men are generally expected to
be strong, aggressive, and bold.

Discussion:
My father loves to watch old, black-and-white movies. You know the kind...the woman is at home
making a pot roast, and the husband returns from work briefcase in hand. He kisses her and asks her
what they are having for dinner, and she asks him how his day was. A child comes into the kitchen to ask
mommy when dinner will be finished.
Old movies and television shows had a certain way of portraying the family, particularly men and
women. The man was the strong, breadwinner of the family, while the wife lovingly took care of the
children and household duties. And that wasn't just what happened on TV.
 Even life operated that way for many families. My father, for example, worked hard at being the
primary breadwinner of the family and expected my mother to take care of me at home. These behaviors
of men and women that are considered socially appropriate are called gender roles.
Every society, ethnic group, and culture has gender role expectations, but they can be very
different from group to group. They can also change in the same society over time. For example, pink
used to be considered a masculine color in the U.S. while blue was considered feminine.

Traditional Gender Roles

Traditional gender roles are those behaviors seen from men and women in those old movies.
While there are many differences today, these patterns of behavior have left an indelible impact on society
and our thoughts about men and women. Here is a general recap of the typical views and expectations
of men and women in the early and mid-20th century.
As mentioned earlier, men were considered responsible for taking care of the family financially.
They took their jobs as sole providers very seriously. They also had the responsibility for guiding the
family. While they may listen to what their wives had to say, they made the final decisions. Men did not
do household duties or childcare. They felt the need to be strong and refrained from showing too much
emotion or sharing too many personal feelings, especially with those outside of the family.
Women were expected to be in charge of running the household. Mothers did the laundry, cooked
the meals, and cleaned the rooms. They also took care of the children, giving them the care and attention
that was required.
The wealthier families might hire a nanny, and childcare became more widely used in the later
20th century. But the women were often in charge of directing the nannies and dropping off or picking up
from daycare. Women were seen as more emotional than men, more likely and more encouraged to open
up about their feelings.

How Roles Are Learned

Gender roles are passed on through generations. From the age of three, children are able to start
becoming aware of the differences between girls and boys based on the actions of the parents and the
nature of their environment.

• Lucy may continually be dressed in pink, purple, and flowery outfits while her brother, Jack, is
given blue and gray ones.
• When Lucy is at kindergarten and picks up a truck to play with, her teacher may say, 'That's for
boys. I'll go get you a girl toy.'

As the children grow a few years, they start learning what behavior is appropriate and expected.

• Lucy notices her mother cooks for the family, so she pretends to cook for her dolls.
• Jack gets a toy lawn mower to use in the den, so he can be like his daddy.

The behavior is reinforced when the parents praise or reward their children for their actions. They can
also be punished and challenged to change, if it's considered inappropriate.

• When Lucy pretends to cook, her mother may tell her, 'That's great Lucy, one day you will be a
great cook for your family.'
• Conversely, when Lucy takes a toy from Jack and he starts crying, his father may tell him, 'Now,
Jack, stop that. Boys don't cry.'

Children are also encouraged to serve different roles in their interactions with the outside world. Boys
are often encouraged to exert themselves in physical activity, and girls are typically given more attention
to how they look and present themselves.
Gender Division of Labor

This refers to how work is organized in a community, how it is divided among women and men
through gender soc0ialisation within the culture they live in. Understanding how labor is organized by
gender in a given community provides us with an insight into how a community assigns tasks,
responsibilities and activities. Since our aim is to ensure equal opportunities for women and men, it is vital
to pay attention to gendered labor division. Gender division of labor identifies three main gender roles
assumed by women and men, to varying degrees. But what are gender roles?

Gender roles: Society ascribes activities to men and women based on perceived differences that
are maintained through gender division of labor. These roles are assigned early in life “through
identification with specific characteristics associated with being male or female.”

The three types of labor or gender roles as broken down by gender based analysis are:

In many cultures across the world, women and girls assume all three roles, which puts a great strain on
their time. Men are rarely if ever involved in reproductive roles. Women and girls are not paid for the work
they do at the household and community levels. Their productive work is also valued less than men’s,
bringing them less income and visibility.

A central aspect of gender relations within families is the division of labor over domestic tasks. In what
has come to be known as the “traditional Filipino family”, the wife was a full-time homemaker, particularly
when there were children living in the family, and the husband was the breadwinner. As a full-time
homemaker, the wife/mother did virtually all of the housework

Gender Analysis

It is a systematic analytical process used to identify, understand, and describe gender differences
and the relevance of gender roles and power dynamics in a specific context. In general, it is a basis of all
tools of gender mainstreaming.

Gender analysis helps to understand the relationships between men and women. Assessing the
relationship makes it possible to determine men’s and women’s constraints and opportunities within the
farming system. The analysis answers the following questions:
 • Division of labor: who within the household carries out which agricultural tasks
(What do men and women do?)

• Who has access to and control over resources and services?

• How resources distribute and who makes the decisions (what decisions do men
and women make in the family/community)?

• What are the reasons behind these differences in gender?

Why gender analysis is done?

• To better understand the opportunities/problems in the community and plan

interventions which are beneficial to both women and men.

• To expose the barriers to women’s full participation and economic development.

• To make decisions & implement the project/program that promotes gender equity.

• It helps to find the best strategies and solutions to address the different needs and
dynamics of men and women living in poverty.

Gender analysis can be done using:

• Formal interviews and surveys, mapping

• Household interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs)

One of the approaches to conduct gender analysis is using household interview. By conducting a
household interview a lot of information
(qualitative/quantitative) can be obtained that can give better understanding about the issue. For example,
in semi structured interviews general questions or topics are initially identified and become basis for more
specific questions during the interview allowing both the interviewer and the person being interviewed
discuss on the issues. The other approach is focus group discussion. In this case small groups (usually
5-10 people) are formed for an open discussion assisted by a facilitator/moderator. Unlike individual
interviews focus group discussion provides an added dimension of the interactions among members.

Suggested Readings:

E.P. Peralta, N.J. Botor, T.M Laude., 2019.,A Course Module for Gender and Society: A Human
Ecological Approach. References/ Additional Resources

http://oasis.col.org/bitstream/handle/11599/1740/2015_COL_Gender-
BiasQuiz.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

https://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/savvy/teaching/resources/TRAILS/Gender
%20Identification%20Exercise.pdf

https://agriprofocus.com/upload/CASCAPE_Manual_Gender_Analysis_Tools_FINAL 1456840468.pdf