ACCEPTANCE OR RESTRAINT - THE INTEGRATION OF WOMEN IN PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

The present research explores the main and interactive effects of indi vidual gender, the proportion of women in orchestras and national gend er culture in predicting individual motivation and satisfaction, the q uality of relationships among players, and their reports about how, an d how well, their orchestras function. Analyses draw on a comparative study of 78 symphony orchestras in four nations: the United States, th e United Kingdom, the former East Germany, and the former West Germany . Results show significant effects for both gender composition and gen der culture. As the proportion of women increases, dependent measures exhibit a decline - although, for many variables, this trend flattens or reverses as the proportion of women approaches fifty percent. The d ynamics of gender composition effects were also found to differ as a f unction of gender culture at the national level.