Explain Cultural Variations in Gender Roles

1. Explain Cultural Variations in Gender Roles Patrick Bradley IB Psychology HL

2. The main study that focused around cultural variations in gender roles, is Margaret Meads study of three tribes in New Guinea in 1935. Her findings ultimately suggest that gender roles can vary from culture to culture. Margaret Mead

3. Here, men and women were kind and gentle and therefore displayed female gender stereotypes and both genders shared chores relating to raising crops and caring for children. Tribe 1, The Arapesh

4. Both the men and women were arrogant, competitive, and emotionally unresponsive thus displaying male gender stereotypes. Neither the men or the women were interested in child rearing and so the children quickly became self reliant Tribe 2, the Mundugumor

5. Here, traditional gender roles were reversed. The men spent most of their time discussing things like bodily adornments with other men, while the women were responsible for food production and making tools and clothes. Tribe 3, the Tchambuli

6. Obviously all three of these tribes had varying gender roles for men and women. • These tribes all were within 100 miles of each other, therefore Mead’s study suggests that there is cultural variation in gender roles. Conclusion