gender and sex gender sex and culture the importance of gender roles defining gender as already detailed sex is about the physical attributes of women and men gender is about the cultural attribute

However, women handle tasks involving heavy labor (!Kung), fishing (Yahgan of the Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America), herd large animals (Masai), clear land (the Iroquois[r]

Gender, Sex, and Culture

The Importance of Gender

Roles

Defining Gender

As already detailed, sex is about the physical attributes

of women and men.

Gender is about the cultural attributes derived from the biological differences between the sexes.

The second sociological constant of kinship is male

dominance.

Once considered widespread, the assumption of male dominance, recent research suggest, is problematic and is more statistical than absolute

After looking at the male dominance question, we

examine the gender division of labor and its

explanations.

The Question of Male Dominance

In a project on matrilineal descent, David Schneider and Kathleen Gough with others used male dominance

as a working assumption: How can societies that trace their descent through females accommodate males in whom authority over the group is vested.

They sought, and in some cases found, ways whereby men have an interest in their sisters’ reproduction

although incest tabus prevent them from mating with them

Recent research suggests that in many societies,

women played greater roles of authority than

previously thought

Do or did we have matriarchal societies; evidence is lacking for arriving to that conclusion, but nevertheless women do have much influence in many cultures

The Question of Gender Status: A

Short History

In the nineteenth century, evolutionists such as Lewis Henry Morgan postulated a four-stage model of society:

The first stage was sexual promiscuity The second stage was matriarchy; it was evident who the mothers were but not the fathers

The third stage was patriarchy: by Roman times the father owned the wife and the children as property.

The fourth stage was the nuclear family of Victorian England and the “modern” U.S., the hallmark of civilization

Recently, Evelyn Reed has documented the case for this phase of human history

in her Women’s Evolution from

Matriarchal Clan to Patriarchal Family

That issue remains dormant, but the case

of Juchitán, Mexico, may revive it

Cases of Male Dominance: The Masai

of Kenya

The Masai are a pastoral society, exclusively herdsmen.

Men own the cattle, and also the women they procreate and marry as chattel

property.

Women do all the work around cattle— milk them, draw their blood, use their dung for construction material, and a host of other jobs (upper photo)

Theirs is a polygynous society (one male, two or more females), and the women

move to the men’s residence at marriage They own no property; cattle pass from father to son.

The Masai are traditional warriors;

warfare emphasizes male cooperation Many other pastoralist societies have similar patterns

Cases of Female Influence: The !

Kung of Namibia and the Iroquois

Women elsewhere have much more say

in their society

These !Kung gatherers contribute around 80% of their bands subsistence; because of their knowledge about

plants, their input in decisions where to move to next is considerable

Where women own property, they tend

to dominate the local households Iroquois women were cultivators, owned land and longhouses (interior depicted in the lower picture), and so had much influence in tribal affairs They voted for council members, could force removal of a member they didn’t like, but did not sit on the council

themselves

The Question of Matriarchy: The

Zapotec Women of Juchitán

Another case study are the matrilineal Zapotec

of Juchitán, a Mexican village on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (top)

The women control the financial affairs of the household; a household under the financial control of men is a household headed for ruin Again they do not participate in council affairs The reason; the women say they have better things to do than to argue about issues that could be resolved in five minutes

Yet they reject the idea that they are matriarchal; they see themselves as administrators.

Women also contribute most of their household income through marketing (bottom photo).

It is worth noting that homosexuals, both female and male, are accepted locally

Division of Labor: Background

In nonindustrial communities, almost all households are involved in the primary sector: agriculture, herding, foraging.

The main divisions of labor are based on gender, age, and part-time crafts.

What defines most gender roles is the

division of labor

Gender Division of Labor:

Definitions

The gender division of labor may be defined as an arrangement whereby men perform some tasks and women others

Three basic questions are related to this division: Does every society have different work for males and females? The answer is generally yes

Do the women and men divide work in similar

ways? It depends on the society, its environment, and its technology

What explains these differences? Several answers have been proposed, none entirely satisfactory

Gender Division of Labor:

Gender-Exclusive Tasks

Men generally handle heavier tasks that

are often dangerous

They generally engage in warfare and

usually exercise political leadership

Women generally handle domestic duties

and rear children

Often the tasks they handle are compatible with child care

Gender Division of Labor:

Shared Tasks

Either or both genders perform handicrafts: weaving, leatherworks, pottery, basketry, and others

Both genders tend and milk cattle and

other herd animals, plant the fields, tend

them during the growing season, and

harvest the crops

They handle other sundry tasks, such as smoke or otherwise preserve meat or fish

Gender Division of Labor:

Explanations

There have been three main categories of

explanations to predict how labor is allocated

cross-culturally

Strength explanations attribute heavier tasks to

the males’ relative superior strength

Compatibility-with-child-care explanations

have women handle tasks that can be interrupted

Male expendability explanations: a group can

better survive men’s than women’s deaths

All explanations do not apply to all places

Strength Explanations

Men are said to be able to mobilize strength in quick bursts of energy Matches most tasks done by males, including hunting, clearing land (upper left), and heavy construction.

However, women handle tasks involving heavy labor (!Kung), fishing (Yahgan of the Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America), herd large animals (Masai), clear land (the Iroquois), and even carry heavy loads while cultivating (as these Nepalese women are doing )

Compatibility-with-Child Care Explanations

Women handle tasks compatible with child care (especially at

breast-feeding) Tasks are interruptible to tend to child (such as cultivating local fields); tasks

do not take them away for long Tasks do not place children in danger However, most of the marketers are women, who spend a long time away from home (such as these

Guatemalan natives)

Women often exchange child care with other women.

Male Expenditure Explanations

Men usually engage in dangerous work (or warfare) Loss of men is less

disadvantageous to society’s survival than loss of women, who have reproductive power Shortcomings: Women also take on dangerous tasks

Atga (Philippines): Women hunt (lower left)

Yahgan: fish in rough seas and own their own boats

Gender Division of Labor:

Evaluation of Explanations

We have seen in this series that most, if not all

explanations, account for all cases

This applies to all generalizations in the social

sciences

We are dealing with volitional beings, and the job

of anthropologists is to develop further hypotheses

to explain the exceptions—or come with new

hypotheses to better explain the facts

This is the implication for explaining why some

women engage in dangerous tasks such as

hunting or fishing or in heavy tasks, such as

carrying firewood or other heavy loads

Sex is the first organizer of human society This is filtered culturally through gender Gender labor and status depends on

cultural factors

Explanations for these differences is a

continuing process