Page 159 - Cultures and Organizations

138 DIMENSIONS OF NATIONAL CULTURES

but translated into economic terms in modern societies. Men, in short, are
supposed to be assertive, competitive, and tough. Women are supposed to
be more concerned with taking care of the home, of the children, and of

people in general—to take the tender roles. It is not difficult to see how

this role pattern is likely to have developed: women first bore the children
and then usually breast-fed them, so at least during this period they had
to stay close to the children. Men were freer to move around, to the extent
that they were not needed to protect women and children against attacks
by other men and by animals.
Male achievement reinforces masculine assertiveness and competition;
female care reinforces feminine nurturance and a concern for relationships
and for the living environment. Men, taller and stronger and free to get
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out, tend to dominate in social life outside the home; inside the home a
variety of role distributions between the genders is possible. The role pat-
tern demonstrated by the father and mother (and possibly other family
members) has a profound impact on the mental software of the small child
who is programmed with it for life. Therefore, it is not surprising that one
of the dimensions of national value systems is related to gender role models
offered by parents.
The gender role socialization that started in the family continues in
peer groups and in schools. A society’s gender role pattern is daily refl ected
in its media, including TV programs, motion pictures, children’s books,
newspapers, and women’s journals. Gender role–confirming behavior is

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a criterion for mental health. Gender roles are part and parcel of every
society.

Masculinity-Femininity as a

Dimension of Societal Culture

Chapter 4 referred to a set of fourteen work goals in the IBM question-
naire: “Try to think of those factors that would be important to you in an
ideal job; disregard the extent to which they are contained in your present
job.” The analysis of the answers to the fourteen work goal items produced
two underlying dimensions. One was individualism versus collectivism: the
importance of personal time, freedom, and challenge stood for individual-
ism, while the importance of training, physical conditions, and use of skills
stood for collect ivism.