1. Equality and Inequality:
3 February 2009 Anth 324
Equality and Inequality:
The Sexual Division of Labour and Gender Stratification Brettell & Sargent pp AND Mascia-Lees & Black chapter 5.

2. We have considered whether gender arises from biology or ideology in earlier sections. Here we consider whether gender status is related to material conditions. Are women’s and men’s status in society directly related to the sexual division of labour and of property? Discuss with respect to the readings.

3. Terms:
- foragers, horticulturalists, pastoralists, agriculturalists, industrial society
- matrilineal, patrilineal, bilateral descent
- polygamy: polygyny, polyandry
- structural adjustment programs, informal and formal sector

4. Mascia-Lees and Black “Materialist Orientation”
- Marx and Engels: Mode of production
- a focus on what specific categories of people produce, how they produce it, and who gets to decide what happens to it
- Engels’ Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
- a specific evolutionary model examining women’s role in production

5. Estioko-Griffin and Griffin: the Agta foragers of the Philippines
what do men and women do?
how does this relate to their status?
Key message of article:

6. Lepowsky and the horticulturalists of Vanatinai
what do men and women do?
how does this relate to their status?
Key message of article:

7. Rasmussen and the Tuareg pastoralists in a process of transition
notes variation among pastoralists in general, in terms of division of labour (especially with respect to horticulture) and gender equality
notes variation among Tuareg groups
what do men and women do?
what does Rasmussen say are related to gender status?
what people do, what they own, time of year, where they are, inheritance patterns, type of Islam which they follow
what are the effects of increasing sedentization on Tuareg women’s status? (Or on Tuareg men’s status?)
Key message of article:

8. Babb and the coop members/informal workers of Nicaragua in a period of structural adjustment
what did women do under the Sandinista regime?
how did their working lives change under the Chamorro regime?
what is the effect of state policy on gendered work and status?
Key message of article:

9. Is the status of men and women necessarily linked to their role in production?
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