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Social stratification is a system which exists in most societies, and distinguishes between individuals and / or groups according to their socially-defined attributes, and gives them different statuses according to these attributes. This system is so widespread because humans invariably show variation, with some being better skilled at certain things than others, and these differences lead to people becoming more or less " useful" to society. What this essay will look at is the ways in which gender division is treated in two different societies; the Kwaio of the Soloman Islands, and the Yanomamo of South America. The reasons for this stratification will be explored, and conclusions will try to be drawn about whether it is biological factors or cultural values which determine the stratification. One ethnography is that of the Kwaio of the Solomon Islands. In this society, women are excluded from all sacred rituals, and are generally viewed as inferior to men.
Their inferiority is based on the view that the Kwaio have of women" s bodies being potentially polluting. The Kwaio believe that the urination, defecation, menstruation and process of childbirth in women are polluting agents which can cause negative effects on the men and the extremely important sacred rituals. The organization of this society revolves entirely around this notion of pollution; their settlements are organised so that the domestic dwellings are in the center, but there is a scared men" s house in the north, from which women are banned, and a polluted women" s area from which men are banned. ? When a woman is menstruating or giving birth, she must retire to the polluted area, away from any male members of the society. What this division results in is the praising of the male members of the society. Only they are considered superior enough to communicate with the adult (ancestral ghosts), and only they may perform any scared rituals.
The question this raises is whether or not this stratification by gender is in truth based on biological factors. Although processes such as menstruation are biological, the Kwaio have no real evidence that women" s biological processes are polluting. One could therefore argue that it is in fact cultural values which are operating within this society; as the Kwaio have imposed their cultural values onto the biological factors of women. This is probably because this gives the Kwaio men a reason for viewing women as inferior. It is interesting that menstruation and childbirth, the two processes which men are physically unable to perform, are viewed as the most polluting.
The anthropologist Margaret Mead once said that " Men envy women because they can give birth and sustain life&irc; . It seems as if this statement applies to the Kwaio; because the men in this society cannot experience these processes, they have turned them into negative qualities which enhance their superiority instead of making them seem inferior. Within the Yanomamo society of South America, there exists a clear male-female division within the social organization of the community. This society is male dominated, with females regarded as inferior. This is evident in the way in which the female and male children are raised; female children begin to help with the household chores and baby-sit their younger siblings long before male children even begin to think about such things. Most girls are promised to men for marriage long before they reach puberty, and, once they are married, their status, as well as their quality of life, does not improve significantly.
The husbands of these women frequently scold and beat their wives, and expect their wives to be willing and able to carry out tasks such as preparing the evening meal as soon as they return to their homes. It could be assumed that since there seems to be no biological reason for there being such a division in the status of women and men, that this stratification is due to the cultural values of the Yanomamo. As women are given tasks such as the collecting of firewood and household chores, it is clear that they are viewed as being physically capable of performing most tasks, so this biological difference is ruled out. There seems to be no view of women having negative biological factors such as in the case of the Kwaio society, so it would seem as if it is the Yanomamo" s culture which has developed as viewing men as superior not for their biological differences to women, but for another, or a combination of other, reasons. It is virtually always the case in societies that one sex is viewed as superior to the other, and the reasoning behind the men being superior in Yanomamo society is probably linked to their being those who hunt and therefore are the main providers within the society.
In both the societies examined in this essay, it has been the male gender which is the superior gender in society. The lack of real evidence for biological factors being responsible for this stratification has led to the conclusion being drawn that it is in fact cultural values which govern the division, even though these may be masked as being due to biological factors. What has not been mentioned so far is that these cultural values include the attitude of the women in these societies towards the social stratification. The fact that the women in both of these societies have not taken a stand against their inferiority further supports the theory that cultural values are responsible- it is certainly not the female biological make-up which prevents these women for trying to make a difference, but instead their culture. ?
Men in Tahiti and Semai Tahiti, an Island in Polynesia, has a much less marked differentiation between masculinity and femininity then most societies. Furthermore, the Tahitian concept of masculinity does not require men to act as providers and protectors. There is little need for men to take physical risks since there is no warfare, and there are few dangerous occupations. The lagoon offers a plentiful supply of fish so risky deep-sea fishing is not necessary. Families co-operate together in economic activities and there is no social pressure to be economically successful. It also encourages men to be timid and passive, They are expected to ignore insults and very rarely fight one another.
Tahiti men are neither protective of their women, nor possessive towards them. A French explorer found that Tahitian men were extremely hospitable and even offered him their daughters. The Semai people live in central Malaysia. Both men and women are strongly opposed to violence and aggression.
Aggression is denoted by the word " plan" , which also means " taboo" . The Semai try to avoid anything that frustrates another person and goes against their wishes. As a consequence, both women and men are usually expected to agree to a request for sex, even if they are married and the person requesting sex is not their spouse. There is very little jealousy and Semai men and women tolerate the extra-marital affairs of their spouses as being no more than a loan. The Semai do not engage in competitive sport, and are not materialistic. Men do not have to compete with each other because farming is co-operative and if one man has too little to get by.
he simply asks another man for some of his. It is plan to refuse. Although the Semai do hunt, and hunting is reserved exclusively for males, the hunting is not dangerous or difficult. They hunting nothing larger or more dangerous than small pigs, they stop hunting before noon when it gets too hot, and " if they encounter danger, they run away and hide without any shame or hesitation" . There are some differences between men and women in both Tahitian and Semai society (although amongst the Semai they are not particularly pronounced), neither has a cultural image of the " the real man" . Gilmore suggests that the unusual characteristics of masculinity in these societies may result from the material circumstances in which the societies exist
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