When the bargain has been made and the bride delivered to her husband’s
family, her services generally become, save in tribes where residence
is matrilocal, the property of her purchasers, and she is subject to
her husband, or, where the patriarchal system is highly developed, to
the head of his tribe. It must be remarked, however, that although this
is the usual arrangement, it is not invariable. Among some peoples,
the husband’s rights are purely sexual, the services of the wife, and
often even her children, belonging to her own tribe; and among others,
the husband must pay for his bride in services which render him for a
long period the virtual slave of his wife’s relatives. The point to be
remarked in all this is that any conception of woman as an individual
entity, as in any sense belonging to herself, and not to her own
relatives or to her husband and his family, seems to be practically
non-existent among primitive peoples, as it was until recently among
civilized peoples. But it must be remarked, too, that in this respect
her position is only less desirable than that of the man; for in
primitive society the group so dominates the individual that in almost
every phase of life he is hedged about with restrictions and taboos
which leave little room for the play of personality and the pursuit of
individual desires. All social advancement has been in the direction of
the individual’s escape from this group-tyranny.
So important is the part that the labour of women plays in the
primitive world, that the wife or wives are often the sole support
of husband and family; and a man’s wealth and social prestige may
actually depend upon the number of his wives. “Manual labour among
savages,” says Westermarck, “is undertaken chiefly by the women; and
as there are no day-labourers or persons who will work for hire, it
becomes necessary for any one who requires many servants to have many
wives.” _There are no day-labourers or persons who will work for hire._
Women, then, are the first victims of that deep-rooted and instinctive
preference for living by the labour of other people, which has played
so momentous and sinister a rôle in the world’s history. Among tribes
whose mode of life has made them exploitable by stronger and more
highly organized hordes--as, for example, an agricultural people which
is conquered by a more mobile and disciplined tribe of herders--there,
among the expropriated class, are day-labourers and people who will
work for hire, for these have no choice or alternative; but among
peoples where militant exploitation is impossible--as among the
hunting-tribes--no man can be forced to work for another man, for the
simple reason that there is no way of compelling him to share the
product of his labour. But even here we see the economic phenomenon of
the labour of women being exploited as the labour of man is exploited
after conquest and the foundation of the exploiting State; and this
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account