Female Roles and Male Dominance among Peasants

Analysis of 46 peasant community studies reveals a recurrent androcentric social structure, with economic control and authority in the hands of men. Fathers tend to be authoritarian, mothers indulgent. In the patrilineally oriented families, marriage is usually by arrangement, with weak affective ties between spouses and a strong bond between mother and son which increases her power in later years and results in strained relations with daughters-in-law. In bilateral families, the increased economic power of women tends to make for brother-sister rivalry and, where male authoritarian roles are expected, seems to create a machismo syndrome. The data suggest that there are not only recurrent structural responses to the common organizational problems of peasant family life, but also recurrent structuring of social sentiments.