Mother Russia
Mar. 13th, 2004 12:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
imomusI saw Irina Hakamada in an Arte theme night about women in Russia and immediately fell in crush with her. She dresses in black and looks like someone from the future, intelligent and beautiful. It turns out she's a candidate -- in fact, the only real opposition to Vladimir Putin -- in Russia's presidential election, to be held this Sunday. Despite her politics, which seem to be rather rightist, I dream of seeing her one day ruling Russia -- perhaps at around the same time that Hillary Clinton takes over the White House.
It turns out that Irina Hakamada is half Japanese. The Asahi Shimbun reports:
'Irina Hakamada, a candidate in Sunday's Russian presidential election, likes to wear black. She calls herself 'a scion of samurai,' and the media has labeled her the 'Samurai Lady.' The Japanese-Russian, a reformist in Russian politics, has been running an isolated campaign amid general expectations that President Vladimir Putin will win re-election by a landslide. Russia seems to be enveloped in an atmosphere where citizens dare not speak ill of Putin openly. But Hakamada stands out. She is a vocal critic of the government, charging that Russia has become a society that keeps itself together by falsehood and terror... Her father was Mutsuo Hakamada, a former member of the Japanese Communist Party, who sought asylum in the Soviet Union in the days when being a member of the party was enough to earn the death penalty in Japan. She is the result of a marriage between him and a Russian woman. An economist by origin, Hakamada became a very successful entrepreneur, and this prepared her to enter politics.'
Would the world be better run by women? Writing an article for Voice: The AIGA Journal of Design yesterday about the Volvo concept car 'by and for women', I came across the ideas of Geert Hofstede. A researcher at IBM, Hofstede developed a vast survey of the personal values of IBM employees in 72 different countries. He used the results to build a model of cultural variability known as Hofstede's Dimensions. The four main dimensions of his model are attitudes to:
Uncertainty Avoidance
Power Distance
Masculinity-Femininity
Individualism-Collectivism
The gender bit is of course the most controversial -- and the most interesting. Hofstede’s study suggests that men’s goals differ significantly from women’s. Male dominated societies (US, Japan, Mexico, Hong Kong, Italy, Great Britain) tend to be assertive and competitive, whereas feminine societies (Sweden; France, Israel, Denmark, Indonesia) favour cooperation, good working relationships and security. Feminine nations are strong on caring values, good relationships, equality and solidarity. Masculine nations stress material success and progress. There is greater division between the sexes and managers are expected to be decisive and assertive.
Hofstede says that sexual behaviour is culturally constructed and that masculine cultures are less open about sexual issues than feminine ones. The institution of marriage is perceived as ‘holier’ in masculine countries (hello George!) and parenthood is more highly valued in feminine societies. Gay and lesbian sexuality, masturbation, contraception, and abortion are all perceived as more acceptable in feminine counties. Generally, sex is more likely to be experienced as exploitative in a masculine culture and as a relationship in a feminine culture.
Hofstede links religious and sexual values, seeing religion as an expression of pre-existing cultural values rather than vice versa. Different religions, he says, have taken different positions toward the pleasure side of sex. Masculine religions will either reserve pleasure for men or deny it to both genders; feminine religions will be silent on the subject or value sexual pleasure positively for men and women. Feminine nations tend to be more secularized than masculine nations.
I'm quite surprised to see Japan lumped in with the masculine nations, but remember that most of Hofstede's surveys were filled out in the 60s and 70s. Japan has changed a lot even since the 80s, swinging rapidly from its thrifty stoical-ascetic masculine side (well represented by Buddhism) to its consumerist sensualist feminine one (shinto). Irina, in emphasising her 'samurai' side, may be declaring an affinity with the old Japan rather than the new. Like her heroine Margaret Thatcher, she may be trying to out-male the males rather than playing her greatest asset: the feminine. When will women rule the world... as women?
It turns out that Irina Hakamada is half Japanese. The Asahi Shimbun reports:
'Irina Hakamada, a candidate in Sunday's Russian presidential election, likes to wear black. She calls herself 'a scion of samurai,' and the media has labeled her the 'Samurai Lady.' The Japanese-Russian, a reformist in Russian politics, has been running an isolated campaign amid general expectations that President Vladimir Putin will win re-election by a landslide. Russia seems to be enveloped in an atmosphere where citizens dare not speak ill of Putin openly. But Hakamada stands out. She is a vocal critic of the government, charging that Russia has become a society that keeps itself together by falsehood and terror... Her father was Mutsuo Hakamada, a former member of the Japanese Communist Party, who sought asylum in the Soviet Union in the days when being a member of the party was enough to earn the death penalty in Japan. She is the result of a marriage between him and a Russian woman. An economist by origin, Hakamada became a very successful entrepreneur, and this prepared her to enter politics.'
Would the world be better run by women? Writing an article for Voice: The AIGA Journal of Design yesterday about the Volvo concept car 'by and for women', I came across the ideas of Geert Hofstede. A researcher at IBM, Hofstede developed a vast survey of the personal values of IBM employees in 72 different countries. He used the results to build a model of cultural variability known as Hofstede's Dimensions. The four main dimensions of his model are attitudes to:
Uncertainty Avoidance
Power Distance
Masculinity-Femininity
Individualism-Collectivism
The gender bit is of course the most controversial -- and the most interesting. Hofstede’s study suggests that men’s goals differ significantly from women’s. Male dominated societies (US, Japan, Mexico, Hong Kong, Italy, Great Britain) tend to be assertive and competitive, whereas feminine societies (Sweden; France, Israel, Denmark, Indonesia) favour cooperation, good working relationships and security. Feminine nations are strong on caring values, good relationships, equality and solidarity. Masculine nations stress material success and progress. There is greater division between the sexes and managers are expected to be decisive and assertive.
Hofstede says that sexual behaviour is culturally constructed and that masculine cultures are less open about sexual issues than feminine ones. The institution of marriage is perceived as ‘holier’ in masculine countries (hello George!) and parenthood is more highly valued in feminine societies. Gay and lesbian sexuality, masturbation, contraception, and abortion are all perceived as more acceptable in feminine counties. Generally, sex is more likely to be experienced as exploitative in a masculine culture and as a relationship in a feminine culture.
Hofstede links religious and sexual values, seeing religion as an expression of pre-existing cultural values rather than vice versa. Different religions, he says, have taken different positions toward the pleasure side of sex. Masculine religions will either reserve pleasure for men or deny it to both genders; feminine religions will be silent on the subject or value sexual pleasure positively for men and women. Feminine nations tend to be more secularized than masculine nations.
I'm quite surprised to see Japan lumped in with the masculine nations, but remember that most of Hofstede's surveys were filled out in the 60s and 70s. Japan has changed a lot even since the 80s, swinging rapidly from its thrifty stoical-ascetic masculine side (well represented by Buddhism) to its consumerist sensualist feminine one (shinto). Irina, in emphasising her 'samurai' side, may be declaring an affinity with the old Japan rather than the new. Like her heroine Margaret Thatcher, she may be trying to out-male the males rather than playing her greatest asset: the feminine. When will women rule the world... as women?
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off topic from this post - but - Smooth Folk Club!
Date: 2004-03-13 06:29 pm (UTC)http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=folk_club