Hofstede is out – so Old School!
Update!!! I made an updated blog post with recent data on Hofstedes cultural dimensions on Lithuania here!
During my year in Sweden I got a close and “personal” relationship to a guy called Geert Hofstede. Professor Hofstede is Dutch and has made a lot of research in cultural diferences and is well known around the world for this research.
He is the creator of the 5 cultural indicators: Power distance index (PDI), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity (MAS), Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) and Long-Term Orientation (LTO). What each of them stand for you can see on this webpage http://www.geert-hofstede.com/. (Run by a consulting company that follows Hofstede’s concept).
Well, the point is that I have made a small survey and I find the Lithuanian analyse made by Hofstede to be questionable. According to Hofstede, then Lithuania is the country with the strongest Masculinity (That men are the bosses). Unfortunate, this does not follow my own studies, both personal and through observations. I see a country where the rising well educated woman is ready to take power. You see in the country of Latvia how a strong woman just recently left 8 years in the presidential chair. I see Lithuanian women as keen foxes, that use both mind and body to gain their ways. Some would call it cheap – others would call it very seductive and unresistable.
Talking about my own relationship – well, taking a look at Hofstede’s view of Denmark the answer might be easy to enlighten. I am not particularly proud to say, that Denmark is the second most feministic country in the world – just close after our good neighbours of Sweden. So for me it is an impossible fight. To be under a womans gentle will has always been the way in my culture. Yes, we have never had a female prime minister, but woman have always been close to power in the last 50 years in Denmark.
Regarding Hofstede, I think his problem is that his studies are already old. Lithuania is changing so fast with the change in mentality as a jet engine in the change of cultural views. Truly here men are more, but woman use their wits to get around and have far more power than they might think. Power is not meassured in monthly income or standing on top of others in the hierarchy – That is just what they make us men believe! 
(Correct!) Link: Hofstede’s own homepage
I made an updated blog post with recent data on Hofstedes cultural dimensions on Lithuania here!
September 7th, 2007 at 10:24 am
We should have gone to that Hofstede conference… I’ll ask if they’re inviting him ever again (or at least Trompenaars…)
September 7th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Ya, we should. It was a bit foolish, because I would really have liked to have been going there.
I do not know so much about Trompenaar, but I am up for it, for sure!
September 7th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Trompenaars had 7 dimensions
I have a reply to this post on my blog.
October 22nd, 2007 at 11:05 pm
Sorry, but Lithuania is very FEMININE!! If you need the study, please contact me!
November 30th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Lithuania feminine? This is total absurd. I’m a Lithuanian, now I live in Finland, which is a really feminine country, I believe that Lithuania is more masculine, than feminine, due importance of social status and suchlike issues. If you want a further discussion, contact me Stalyga@yahoo.com
February 13th, 2008 at 6:36 am
US score in masculinity is surprisingly similar to Lithuania’s. US score is 62 and Lithuania’s score is 65 though I always thought that US is much more feminine country comparing to Lithuania.. I agree about lithuanians being a masculine country. I am lithuanian myself and live in Denmark, which is a true women country. Women decide everything here, their word is the first and the last. I cannot understand though how come Denmark didn’t yet have a female prime minister.. Even Ireland which has higher score in masculinity comparing to Denmark’s (and its also true!) had already two female leaders. So masculinity does not depend on how many female presidents or prime ministers a country had or has..
October 29th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
The web page you are referring to is NOT authorized to use Hofstedes name!
http://feweb.uvt.nl/center/hofstede/twoWebsites.html
November 16th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
I find your discusssion bizzare: have any of you read at least the describtion of what Hoefstede means by feminine or masculine? What you are saying, i.e., that masculine stands for men are bosses is exactly what its not. Being masculine or feminine in this context stands for values. Feminine values are family, relationships, etc. Whreas masculine values are money, career, etc. So the score is perfectly in line with what Lithuania is like – in between. Correct me if im wrong.
February 12th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
[...] had a post on my former blog, when I was living in Lithuania on Geert Hofstede’s indices on culture in Lithuania. I see [...]