Masculinity/Femininity in 10 minutes
Geert Hofstede
August 2014
Origin of the terms “masculinity” and “femininity”
• The adjectives “masculine” and “feminine” are latinized
versions of “male” and “female”, used for “man-like” and
“woman-like”
• Since the 1930s, anthropologists have studied the variety
of role divisions between the genders in different societies
• Hofstede borrowed “masculinity versus femininity” from
social anthropology
• Masculinity versus Femininity is the only of his dimensions
of societal differences for which scores depend on gender
Masculinity/Femininity as a societal culture dimension
• Masculinity: A society in which emotional gender roles
are distinct: men should be assertive, tough and focused
on material success, women on the quality of life
• Femininity: A society in which emotional gender roles
overlap: both men and women are supposed to be
modest, tender, and focused on the quality of life
Feminine societies
Masculine societies
• Balance family and work
• Father and mother should both
deal with facts and feelings
• Jealousy of high-flyers (janteloven)
• Sympathy for the weak
• Boys and girls may cry but
neither should fight
• Religion focuses on fellow
human beings
• Sex is a way of relating
• Work prevails over family
• Father should deal with facts,
mother with feelings
• Admiration for the strong
• Disdain of the weak
• Girls cry, boys don’t; boys
fight, girls shouldn’t
• Religion focuses on powerful
God or gods
• Sex is a way of performing
Measuring the position of a society
on the Mas/Fem dimension
• A society’s position between masculinity and femininity can
only be measured relative to other societies
• This position is expressed in a Masculinity Index score (MAS)
• MAS values have been plotted on a scale from 0 to 100;
scores close to 0 stand for the most feminine, scores close to
100 for the most masculine society
Some Masculinity (MAS) scores, out of 76
High
95 Japan
70 Italy
69 Mexico
66 China
66 Britain
66 Germany
62 USA
Low
53 Arab ctrs
43 France
36 Russia
34 Thailand
21 Costa Rica
16 Denmark
14 Netherlands
Some examples of what these MAS scores correlate with
Feminine societies
Masculine societies
• Fewer functional illiterates
• Fewer people living in poverty
• More aid to poorer countries
• Poverty blamed on bad luck
• Both genders shop for food
• More leisure, longer vacations
• Social media used for rapport
building
• More functional illiterates
• More people living in poverty
• Less aid to poorer countries
• Poverty blamed on laziness
• Women are food shoppers
• Salary preferred over leisure
• Social media used for fact
gathering
Do MAS scores change over time ?
• Mas/Fem values are transferred to the children in the family,
with father and mother as role models
• Like for the other dimensions, country differences expressed
in MAS scores tend to be rooted in history
• The data base used for comparing two generations 30 years
apart did not include questions for the Mas/Fem dimension
• Their questionnaire “made in USA” did not contain values
related to the feminine pole of the dimension
• In the USA, the word “femininity” is a taboo – a strong value
• Mas/Fem is likely to be as stable as the other dimensions