Gender equality, young women and culture in the context of the “masculinity/ femininity” as a dimension in Geert Hofstede’s model of “national culture”*

Abstract

This paper analyzes the issue of gender equality and the relationship between the young women and culture in the context of the “masculinity/femininity“ as a dimension in Geert Hofstede’s model of “national culture”. This dimension represents the level that explains whether the society prefers values which Hofstede associates with “masculinity” or “femininity”. Some criticism to Hofstede is than presented, such as his slipping into biological determinism and gender stereotypes. Then, some of the research results conducted in Croatia according to Hofstede’s model are presented. That research placed us among more “masculine“ societies. This fact is then compared with the results of other studies of youth values which determined the higher expression of religious attitudes, and a more traditionalistic and conservative orientation of youth in Croatia. Finally, the conclusions are drawn in the context of the evaluation of this dimension with the final aim of examining its value and contribution in theoretical, methodological, and applicational aspect.

Keywords

• Culture
• Geert Hofstede
• “masculinity”
• “femininity”
• youth values in Croatia
• gender equality