Gender in Society

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Anthropology 1003 Discussion Group A03 Essay #2 Stage 4: Final Draft Gender in Society Professor: Brian Given TA: Chi April 5th, 2011 Melissa Gender in Society “A culture consists of structures and practices that uphold a particular social order by legitimizing certain values, expectations, meanings, and patterns of behavior” (Wood, 1994, p.26). Every culture is unique in the way it is structured and the way in which the society operates as a whole. Culture has an extreme impact on the lives of those in the society, by providing the foundations to gender roles, class, daily jobs or routines, and general societal customs or beliefs. Culture is the reason why “by age five or six, the average child has achieved strong identification with his or her own sex. They think of themselves as members of their own sex, and feel emotionally committed to this point of view” (Romer, 1981, p.24). This is universal to all societies, but the way in which people behave based on their identification with their own sex and the norms they are to follow, according to their sex, are different across the world. Therefore, I have chosen three ethnographies, each regarding a different region, so that I could show through examples of the ethnographies how gender roles vary based on culture. Throughout my research on gender across different cultures, I have determined that the more complex a society is the more distinct gender roles are within that society. The three regions that I chose to research were Canada, Australia, and Island Southeast Asia. For information on the Huron tribes, I read the ethnography by Trigger called The Huron: Farmers of the North. The ethnography, Daughters of the Dreaming, by Bell, was my source for the Aboriginals living in Australia. Lastly, I used two sources for Island Southeast Asia, Power and Difference by Atkinson and Errington, and
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