A2 Cross cultural research into gender roles

In our western culture, brainstorm

characteristics of gender role

Cultural differences in gender role

• If there are big differences across cultures in terms of gender role, it is interesting to psychologists as this would suggest that gender is very influenced by nurture. If biology is the main influence on gender roles, there will be little variation in gender across cultures.

Cross cultural studies of Gender role

One study which suggested cross cultural variation in gender roles

was that of Margaret Mead’s study of 3 tribes

in New Guinea

Mead’s study in Papua New Guinea

My view is that traitswhich are considered masculine or feminine

have no link to ourbiological sex

In 1935 I went to New Guinea

to look at 3 different tribes who lived totally independently of each other within 100 mile

radius

Mead (1935)

• Gender roles different to those in western societies

• Arapesh- men and women fitted feminine stereotype

• Mundugumor- men and women fitted masculine stereotype

• Tchambuli- gendered behaviour opposite of western world

We are the Arapesh

tribe

We are gentle,

loving & co-operative

We make sure our boys & girls are

raised with these qualities

You might think that makes them

feminine

Both of us as parents ‘bear a child’ & even I take to my bed whilst my child

is born

I am from the Mundugumor tribe &

here I am with Margaret

We are ex-cannibals (So Margaret was lucky!)

Males & females in our tribe are arrogant, fierce &

quarrelsomeWe hate pregnancy & rearing our children

So we are all masculine?

We hang our babies in rough baskets against the wall. If

they cry then one of us gives the basket a scratch

I am a member of the Tchambuli tribe & we

do things a bit different here

Females are interested in economic affairs

& they look after trading & food gathering

Males are sentimental,

emotional & unable to make decisions

They sit around in groups, gossiping & preening themselves

Flaws in Mead’s research

Non-scientific: findings are unstructured, therefore have low reliability. Mead could not speak the language and the people knew they were being watched. Gewertz (1981) observed the Tchambuli in the 1970s

and found males to be more aggressive than females – this suggests that Mead might have been observing them in a transitory stage (maybe due to Australian laws on violence)

Cultural determinism – Mead seems to have over emphasised the role of cultures (overlooking biology and evolution) – she saw what she wanted to see..

So it seems our gender roles in USA

aren’t universal Or are they?

I went to 4 other cultures in 1949

Samoa, Bali, Iatmul, Manus

Mmmm. Perhaps I was wrong about my strong cultural determinism view

I now think that women are more nurturing etc than

men Silly me!

So motherhood is a biological inclination

but fatherhood is clearly a social

invention

BERRY HAS ARGUED THAT THERE ARE WIDE CULTURAL

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CULTURES IN TERMS OF :

• GENDER AND SPATIAL AWAREMENSS

• GENDER AND CONFORMITY

Berry – cross cultural gender differences

The 6 cultures studyWhiting (1975)

• Studied child rearing practices in 6 cultures; North America, Philippines, India, Mexico, Kenya and Japan

• Researchers integrated themselves within the communities

• Observations of children daily lives were made- each watched for 5 minutes per day

• 24, 3-10 year olds from each group were observed 15 times

The 6 cultures study: Findings

• Parents basic goals were the same; children to survive, be attached to the family, healthy and to learn survival skills

• Concerned that children learned appropriate social behaviour which included gender role

Whiting & Edwards (1975)

Traditional cultures arrange gender roles in a similar way

In 11 non-Western traditional cultures girls were encouraged

to spend time withtheir mothers

They were given domestic & childcare roles

Boys were given tasks suchas feeding & herding cattle – outside

the home

Conclusion – gender roles do vary across cultures but also

some similarities

Gender roles are More clearly defined in

traditional cultureswhere children work

The 6 cultures study: Findings

• Children’s gender socialisation was influenced by how much work they were expected to do and what it consisted of

• North America: 2% work compared to Kenya=41%• This can be accounted for by degree of complexity in

their lives• In Kenya sharp distinctions were made between males

and females- had to work from a young age• North American children did little work so gender roles

were less defined

Watch this clip...

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EronVtKYr0c

• Samoan Tribe• 3rd Gender

Describe the unusual gender roles in Samoan

culture !!

•The other argument is that there are huge similarities in gender roles across cultures – suggesting gender is biologically driven.

William and Best (1990)

• Universal agreement across cultures about which characteristics were masculine and feminine

• Men= dominant and independent • Women= caring and sociable• Children exhibited the same attitudes • Nature not nurture!!

Buss• Use Buss’s study of male and female mating

preferences to show how there are clearly similar gender roles across a wide range of cultures

Evaluation

• Berry (2002):cross cultural research is driven by the interests of western psychologists, using measures rooted in western thinking – this is called the imposed etic.

• Need to use indigenous researchers- those who belong to the culture researched

Instead of looking at differences between

cultures we can look at differences within cultures

There are big differences in gender roles within cultures.

Tager & Good (2005) compared ideas about masculinity in a sample of

southern Italian and northern Italian males –(in North America)

Found: Less traditional ideas held by northernrather than southern Italians

So within as well as betweencultural differences occur

Best & Thomas (2004)Much research on gender

BUTmost from western USA samples

Therefore??

Therefore the findingsare only applicable to the First World of Psychology

(Moghaddam (1997)

So real indigneous cross-cultural research

is needed to look at the effectof context on gender behaviour