Introduction
Gender relations transformations ever since the beginning of 20th century are essentially among the most rapid and profound social changes in the human history. For over 7,000 years of the human history from the time settled agriculture and the early states occurred, male domination has actually characterized gender relations of societies together with their predecessors. The other thing to note is that even at the commencement of 20th century, women and men were largely viewed as occupying sharply diverse roles in the society where the place of a woman was essentially in the home as mother and wife. On the other hand, the man’s place was in public sphere where men possessed legal powers over their children and wives. By examining gender stratification in relation to marriage, sexuality, kinship, and productive health issues, this essay will show that Minianka women in Mali face various obstacles in achieving higher status.
This paper focuses on the gendered inequality and social stratification for the Malian Minianka women. Gendered inequality and social stratification are most common in African continent. Therefore, the essay discusses the various obstacles that Malian Minianka women face and how these obstacles prevent these women to achieve higher status. But before going into deeper details, it is important to understand what social stratification is. This is a concept that involves classifying individual into groups that are based on the socio-economic conditions that are shared (Lenkeit 26). All the human societies distinguish between female and male by the institutionalized sex appropriate roles for these two genders. Even those societies that have androgynous or third genders for example, mahu, hijra, among others, have the prescriptions for the appropriate comportment.
As stated in the thesis statement, this paper addresses the gender stratification in relation to marriage, sexuality, kinship, and reproductive health issues. Kris Holloway in her book, “Monique and the Mango Rains,” provides ethnographic data about gendered inequality that she collected in Mali. Therefore, this is one of the crucial books to utilize in this essay. The other book is “Introducing Cultural Anthropology,” by Robert Lenkeit. My interpretations of the gender stratification in this African country are that women lacked the rights to choose their preferred husbands; lacked the ways to control sex life and do not possess ways to practice birth control; these women actually had to face very hard reproductive health issues.
The descent also follows the fathers’ lineage. From the book, we understand that Minianka were patrilineal meaning that a woman becomes part of her husband’s family. In addition, the children carry on the name of their father and the ancestral history of fetches and taboos (Holloway 48). Additionally, these women had to live in an environment that was gender stratified. According to the first lecture on week 7, this country is placed 86 out of 86 in 2012 Social Institutions and Gender Index. This means that Mali have actually poor gender inequality for the women. In addition, Mali’s gender inequality index is at 0.712 that places it at 143 out of the 146 countries.
Concerning the gender stratification in relation to the marriage, it is obvious that women are under the control of their husbands. These women are also restricted to the family resources and entitlements where the land, credit, and property belong to the husband. They are also not allowed to access the public space and to involve themselves in politics which are crucial in empowering them. There is also a discriminatory family code where sons are more favored than daughters. The Minianka women do not also have the right to select their husbands meaning that they enter into marriages that are not characterized by romantic love. The most shocking thing is that most of these women are married at tender age (Lenkeit 56). Furthermore, these women are not in a position to acquire divorce because they do not have child custody rights. In their families, these women do not have the authority to make decisions. Therefore, this presents various obstacles that are faced by Minianka women in their attempt to achieve higher status.
Sexuality is the other area where Minianka women in Mali experience gender inequality and stratification hence this also presents obstacles in their attempt to gain higher status. These women actually lack the way to control their sex lives. Women are not allowed to talk about sex hence their husbands are the ones who determines when and how sex should be done. This means that men make important decisions concerning sex life. Actually, many women are forced to have sex by men. For instance, in “Monique and the Mango Rains,” we understand that Monique first sexual experienced was actually forced (Holloway 130). This shows that women are sexually exploited by men.
Regarding the gender stratification in relation to the kinship, we also realize gender inequality is common in Mali. We understand that the ancestral lineage is patrilineal where the membership is through the males (Lenkeit 78). Therefore, women are discriminated when it comes to the issues of wealth consolidation. Daughters do not have the right to own family property as is the case with the sons. Sons are treated differently from the daughters. For that reason, we find that Minianka women in Mali are further discriminated by the kinship. Thus, this presents another major obstacle that prevents these women to achieve higher status.
Last but not least, Minianka women actually face very hard reproductive health issues. These women do not have the right to determine the number of children that they want. It is thus shocking to note that a man controls even the body of a woman. These women face various challenges on their reproductive health and the main factor that has contributed to this is their lack of same opportunities as men. They do not acquire the necessary education that is imperative in dealing with some of these health reproductive issues. Furthermore, a majority of these women are married at tender age. The risk of death during pregnancy and childbirth is also high due to the challenges that these women face in reproductive health (Holloway 30).
Works cited
Lenkeit, Roberta E. Introducing Cultural Anthropology. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007
Holloway, Kris. Monique and the Mango Rains: The Extraordinary Story of Friendship in a Midwife's House in Mali. Oxford: Oneworld, 2011.
