Page 177 - Cultures and Organizations

He, She, and (S)he 153

ings, setting an example of a relat ive equality of gender roles in the family
context.
In Chapter 4 we referred to a 2005 market research study regarding

ideals of beauty and body image among fifteen- to seventeen-year-old girls
from ten countries around the world. As the source of the most powerful

influence on their beauty ideals, girls in feminine cultures more often men-
tioned their father and their mother. In the case of the mother’s infl uence,
(higher) power distance also played a role. In masculine cultures, girls most
often referred to the media and to celebrities. 17
In Chapter 3 we referred to Eurobarometer data about full-time and
part-time work between sets of parents. Whether the second parent worked
full-time or part-time related to power distance. The same database also
registered the frequency of cases in which one parent worked full-time
and the other looked after the children full-time. This percentage related
positively to MAS. In more masculine cultures, the strict role division
between a father who earns the family income and a mother who handles
the household is relatively more common. 18
Studies of schoolchildren in the United States asked boys and girls
why they chose the games they played. Boys chose games allowing them
to compete and excel; girls chose games for the fun of being together and
for not being left out. Repeating these studies in the Netherlands, Dutch

researcher Jacques van Rossum found no significant differences in play-
ing goals between boys and girls; thinking he made an error, he tried
again, but with the same negative result. Child socialization in the feminine
Dutch culture differs less between the sexes. 19
The family context in Figure 5.4 depends also on individualism-
collectivism. Individualist societies include one-parent families in which
role models are incomplete or in which outsiders perform the missing func-
tions. Collectivist societies maintain extended family links, and the center

of authority could very well be the grandfather as long as he is still alive,
with the father as a model of obedience.
Chapter 4 mentioned as well a massive study by David Buss and his
associates regarding the selection of marriage partners in thirty-seven
countries. Preferences were strongly related to individualism and collec-
tivism, but further analysis showed that certain differences between the
preferences of brides and grooms were related to MAS. Masculine cultures
tended to show a double morality in which the chastity and the industrious-
ness of the partner were considered important only by the men. In feminine