Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/434

 418 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

paternal system among many of the aboriginal tribes is combined with great or even extraordinary rights on the part of the wife. And among the west African negroes the position of women is, in all appearance, no less honorable in tribes like the Eboes, among whom inheritance runs through males, than in tribes which admit inheritance through females only.

According to another theory, the position of women and the degree of their dependence among a certain people are largely influenced by economic conditions. With reference to the North American aborigines, for instance, the observation has been made that where the women can aid in procuring subsistence for the tribe they are treated with more equality, and their importance is proportioned to the share which they take in that labor ; whereas in places where subsistence is chiefly procured by the exertions of the men the women are considered and treated as burdens. Thus, the position of women is exceptionally good in tribes that live upon fish and roots, which the women procure with a degree of expert- ness equal to that of the men, whereas it is among tribes that live by the chase, or by other means in which women can be of little service, that we find the sex most oppressed. Dr. Grosse, again, emphasizes the low status of women, not only among hunters, but among pastoral tribes. " The women," he says, " not being able to take part in war, possess nothing which could command respect with the rude shepherd and robber." Among agricultural peoples, on the other hand, Dr. Grosse adds, the position of the female is generally higher. The cultivation of the ground mostly devolves on the woman, and among peoples that chiefly subsist by agri- culture it is not an occupation which is looked down upon, as it is among nomadic tribes. This gives the woman a certain standing, owing to her importance as a food-provider.

Now, in these generalizations there is no doubt a great deal of truth ; but they do not hold good universally or without modifica- tion. Among several peoples that subsist chiefly by the chase or the rearing of cattle the position of women is exceedingly good. To mention only one instance out of many, Professor Vambery observes that among the nomadic Kara-Kirghiz the female sex is treated with greater respect than among those Turks who lead a