Hofstede’s Masculinity Dimension – and its Implications

I have no doubt in my mind to lament that India is a Masculine Country. I truly believe majority of Indian do not treat weak with respect. Superficially we may speak about our culture, but in reality we don’t care about the under-privileged. Do we respect our women? How can we otherwise explain the atrocities against women inside and outside house-hold? A recent study revealed that more than 60% are abused at home. And they are not safe at work place, at public places etc as well. Recent utterances of politicians like Mulayam Singh, and the likes clearly reflect the chauvinistic tendencies of our society. I have seen men occupy seats reserved for women, in public utility services and not even bothered to vacate even after the request. And in most of such cases the fellow passengers display a passive attitude towards the hapless victim by not coming to their rescue. I would like to quote media reports that certain flight operators show blatant disregard to passengers with certain physical disabilities.

A typical scene in Delhi's Metro: Young men brazenly occupy seats reserved for women. Photo by: Malini Kochupillai

Now my next question is how do we treat our kids? The kids are conditioned to match the wavelength of parents. Severe punishment and mental torture are meted out to children to program them so that they will be obedient, and acceptable to the expectations of the society. When I see the techniques use to train a dog, or any other animals, I feel almost same techniques are being used to condition our small kids. But one thing we fail to understand is that almost all social breakthroughs are achieved because of out-of-the-box thinking. And robots or animal have never brought about any social changes! So my suggestion is that we need to allow our children as independent individuals who can break all the barriers and can create a foot print of theirs. But also parents cannot escape from the responsibility of grooming the kids by giving him some advice on the reality of the world and some on universal truths.

The points I put forwarded will answer the question, why a Hindu boy born to his Hindu parents continue to live as a Hindu. Same is the case with a Christian, Muslim, Parsi, and Sikh etc. Now people may question about how people change religion. Change of religion happen only through a higher level of de-conditioning. Also motive is very important in this situation. That is why a large time is spent by religious preachers to brainwash people to join their religion. Also I have seen, in a lot of cases, preachers don’t allow the new converts to mingle with their old pals. Once the de-conditioning and subsequent conditioning is complete only when will they be “liberated to the world” which is vicious and sin full! So at micro level behavior is shaped by family grooming. At macro-level it’s shaped by culture and societal expectations. And society as a group tends to have two different dimensions, when it deals with its weaker section (physically or individually). These dimensions are namely Masculinity and Feminity respectively. Some culture tends to respect and protect its weak better than the others. I.e. the degree of both varies in a continuum with two dimensions at the extreme.

Unfortunately the so-called religions are trying to strengthen such dimensions like Masculinity. I can give good number of examples when a lot of influential religious heads with substantial following give discourses which propagate a belief “the survival of the fittest”. And no more one can depend on the religious leaders to purify such social evil. In modern days it’s the responsibility of the Governments to bring in fool proof systems so that such undesirable trends are not prevalent in our civil society. And sometimes it may have to take a stand against the majority, when the majority choose a path which is not ethically right!