Gender: Cultural Influences on Gender Roles Flashcards
Name 4 aspects of gender roles
> Division of Labour
Aggressiveness
Sex Stereotypes
Conformity
Who studied Division of Labour
Munroe and Munroe
What did Munroe and Munroe find ?
In most cultures, men hunt and otherwise provide resources while women look after children & prepare food. Munroe & Munroe found in a cross-cultural study that every society has some division of labour between genders. This universality suggests that gender roles are biological rather than cultural.
Who studied Aggressiveness
Mead
What did Mead find?
Mead found that in all three cultures she studies in Papua New Guinea, men were more aggressive than women. However, women were still more aggressive in some cultures than in others.
What did Mead’s findings suggest
This suggests that there is a degree of cultural relativism in gender roles: aggression in men is innate and universal but the degree to which aggression is expressed is relative to each culture.
Who studied Sex Stereotypes
Williams and Best
What did Williams and Best do?
Williams & Best studied gender stereotypes in 30 countries in a study involving 2,800 students as participants. They were given 300 adjectives and asked to decide whether each one was more associated with men or women.
What did Williams and Best find
In all countries, men were seen as more dominant, aggressive and autonomous, while women were more nurturing and interested in affiliation. This also suggests that gender roles are biological rather than cultural.
Briefly describe conformity in relation to gender roles
Conformity is also related to culture, as there is a general consensus across cultures that women are more conformist than men. However, this difference varies across cultures
Who studied Conformity?
Berry et al.
What did Berry et al. find?
Berry et al. reported that differences in conformity between men and women are highest in tight, sedentary societies. This shows a cultural influence on gender role.
Evaluate Conformity and gender roles
There is also an alternative explanation for the cultural differences in conformity. In societies where women contribute a lot to food accumulation, women have more freedom and are regarded less as objects for male sexual and reproductive needs. Women thus occupy a higher position within the social group and have more power and less need to conform to the wills of more powerful members of society. This further supports the role of cultural influences.
Evaluate Mead’s findings
Some of the research into gender role is also questionable. For example, the study by Mead mentioned earlier has been criticised by Freeman, who himself worked with people in the same cultures who claimed to have simply given Mead the information she wanted to hear. This suggests that her conclusions are not made on valid data. However, Freeman’s version has also been criticised for being inaccurate.
Evaluate Williams & Best’s findings
The study by Williams & Best also drew criticism from the wider scientific community. One reason is that the questionnaire featured no ‘neutral’ option when rating the masculinity or femininity of each adjective: participants had to choose either male or female. This could cause the divisions between male and female to be exaggerated. The participants were also all university students who might be exposed to many of the same influences. This indicates low population validity, and this could explain the high level of consensus.
