Masculinity-femininity cultural dimension is addressed as a societal, not an individual's, characteristic and "refers to the distribution of values between the genders …" (Hofstede, 2011). A society is called feminine when there is not a strong differentiation between the genders for emotional and social roles—both men and women should be modest and caring and both boys and girls may cry, but neither should fight. In masculine societies, both men and women are assertive and competitive; however women are less so than men.
For individuals from a highly masculine cultural background, mothers may tend to feel more comfortable dealing with the emotional implications of a diagnosis from a clinician, while fathers may feel more comfortable handling the factual aspects of the situation and show less emotion in response to a diagnoses. In a clinical situation, this may include appointment scheduling, payment, and questions for the clinician.
In a feminine culture, these roles in clinical interactions may be more evenly split across the male and female members of a family, and emotional responses may be more clearly observed across both genders.