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Dr. Dorothy D. Wills ANT 405 Anthropology of Gender

Assumptions about the connection between reproduction and economic tasks

1. responsibilities of motherhood (pregnancy, breast-feeding, child-rearing) mean woman must give up other work

2. maternity is relatively sedentary occupation requiring low levels of strength and energy

3. the same is true of domestic work in general

4. in traditional preliterate, small-scale societies, females are confined to domestic occupations that are marginal to the society's main economic tasks

5. the woman doesn't have the physical strength and energy of the man and therefore can't share in jobs like tree-felling or hunting

Levi-Strauss presents the possibility that the sexual division of labor establishes a mutual dependency of the sexes and hence probably is a prerequisite for the establishment of institutionalized marriage.

Issues in Kinship and Marriage:

1. Descent rules in relation to power, inheritance, succession, residence

2. Family form and gender roles

3. Marriage: age, arrangements, multiple spouses, divorce, widow attitudes