Title: AQA Psychology A Unit 3: Discuss cultural influences on gender role. (8 marks + 16 marks)
Headings: AQA Psychology A Unit 3
AQA Psychology A Unit 3
Discuss cultural influences on gender role. (8 marks + 16 marks)

Content: One aspect of gender role that appears to be universal  is the division of labour. In most cultures, men hunt and otherwise provide  resources while women look after children & prepare food. Munroe &  Munroe found in a cross-cultural study that every society has some  division of labour between genders. This universality suggests that gender  roles are biological rather than cultural. A second aspect  of gender roles is differences in aggressiveness. Mead found that in all  three cultures she studies in Papua New Guinea, men were more aggressive  than women. However, women were still more aggressive in some cultures  than in others. This suggests that there is a degree of cultural  relativism in gender roles: aggression in men is innate and universal but  the degree to which aggression is expressed is relative to each culture. Sex stereotypes that each culture has affect  gender roles.