Archive | 2021
Women across Cultures
Abstract
Psychology s study of women has revealed some themes that span cultures and countries, yet women s lived experiences in different cultures can be dramatically different. This Element explores, from a psychological perspective, women s issues in cultural contexts. Beginning with the question of public and private identity (i.e., who counts as a woman), it goes on to examine embodiment, sexuality, reproduction, family roles, economic participation and power, violence, leadership, and feminist activism. It concludes with a brief discussion of women s complicated relationship to culture: as both keepers and sometimes prisoners of cultural traditions - particularly in the context of migration to different cultures. Running through the Element are two general themes: the pervasiveness of a gender hierarchy that often privileges men over women, and the ways in which women s lived experience varies within cultures according to the intersection of gender with other categories that affect expectations, norms, power and privilege.