Women and Patriarchy

Paper Summary:

The first part of the paper compares the marriage practices among the Yanomamo Indians in northern Brazil, the Sherpa people of the Himalayas and the !Kung Sen people of the Kalahari desert. These ethnographic examples were selected because of their geographic and racial diversity.
The second part of the paper examines the gender relations and division of labor within the household, and how such traditional gender structures in the home are being affected by the growing number of women who work outside the home, both by choice and by economic need. The last part of the paper examines women's participation in the economic sphere outside the home. Since traditional economic measures generally ignore women's work in the "informal" economy, this section gives special focus on women whose economic participation is often overlooked, such as the maquiladoras of Mexico and the small vendors and business owners in Jamaica. In the conclusion, the paper teases out how -- despite outward changes such as suffrage and growing educational opportunities for women -- patriarchal norms remain deeply embedded in the social and economic structures all over the world.

From the Paper:

"In the United States, most women are free to pick to pick their choice of mates and to enter into marriage agreements. The prevailing view in many developed and Westernized country is to see marriage as a partnership. In many societies around the world, however, marriage is more than a union of two people. Most women do not have a choice regarding their mates. For example, the Yanomamo Indians of northern Brazil use marriage arrangements to forge alliances and to maintain peace within the villages. Most women are expected to marry at a young age, via previous arrangements. Among the Yanomami, only men are allowed to have more than one spouse. A man who successfully obtains several wives ensures that his grandsons will have a wide pool of cross-cousins from which to find a wife (Chagnon, 1997).
Like the Yanomamos, the Sherpas of Nepal have exogamic restrictions governing marriage. Traditional marriages arranged by parents are still the norm. The consent of marriage partners became more important and there are also increasing instances of Sherpas marrying Nepalis from outside the Sherpa community."

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