The Position of Woman in Primitive Society Part 8

I must not say more upon this question, though it is one that tempts me strongly. It is not, however, my purpose in this book to offer opinions of my own on these problems of the relations of the two s.e.xes; I prefer to leave the facts of the mother-age to speak for themselves. Those whose eyes are not blinded will not fail to see.[81]

[81] Mrs. Chapman Catt has an article in the April number of _Harper's Magazine_ on "A Survival of Matriarchy." It gives an account of her visit to the Malay States, and the favourable position of the women under the maternal customs.

I have received a letter from the great American champion of Women's Rights in which she states how pleased she is that I am writing this book on the Mother-age. "There are many facts," she says, "of the early power of women which the great world does not know."

CHAPTER VII

FURTHER EXAMPLES OF THE MATERNAL FAMILY

Pursuing our inquiry into the social organisation of mother-right, an interesting example occurs among the peoples of the Malay States, where, notwithstanding the centres of Hindu and Moslem influence, much has been retained of the maternal system, once universally prevalent.

The maternal marriage, here known as the _ambel-anak_, in which the husband lives with the wife, paying nothing to the support of the family and occupying a subordinate position, may be taken as typical of the former condition. But among the tribes who have come in contact with outside influences the custom of the husband visiting the wife, or residing in her house, is modified, and in some cases has altogether disappeared.

From a private correspondent, a resident in the Malay States, I have received some interesting notes about the present conditions of the native tribes and the position of women. "In most of the Malay States exogamous matriarchy has in comparatively modern times been superseded by feudalism (_i. e._, the patriarchal rights of the father). But where the old customs survive, the women are still to a large extent in control. The husband goes to live in the wife's village; thus the women in each group are a compact unity, while the men are strangers to each other and enter as unorganised individuals. This is the real basis of the women's power. In other tribes, where the old customs have changed, the women occupy a distinctly inferior position, and under the influence of Islam the idea of secluding adult women has been for centuries spreading and increasing in force." Here, again, clear proof is shown of the maternal system exercising a direct influence on the position of women. And this statement is in agreement with Robertson Smith, who, in writing of the maternal marriage, says: "And it is remarkable that when both customs--the woman receiving her husband in her own hut, and the man taking his wife to his--occur side by side among the same people, descent in the former case is traced through the mother, in the latter through the father."[82]

[82] _Marriage and Kinship in Early Arabia_, p. 74. See also Marsden, _History of Sumatra_, p. 225.

In its ancient form the maternal communal family has notably persisted among the Padang Highlanders of Sumatra. These people live in village communities, with long timber houses placed in barrack-like rows, very similar to the communal dwellings of the American Indians. The houses are gay in appearance, and are adorned with carved and coloured woodwork. One dwelling will contain as many as a hundred people, who form a _sa-mandei_, or mother-hood. Again we find the family consisting of the house-mother and her descendants in the female line--sons and daughters, and the daughters' children. McGee thus describes these maternal households--[83]

[83] "The Beginning of Marriage," _American Anthropologist_, Vol. IX, p. 376.

"If the visitor, mounting the ladder steps, looks in at one of the doors of the separate dwellings, he may see seated beyond the family hearth the mother and her children, eating the midday meal, and very likely the father, who may have been doing a turn of work in his wife's rice-plot. If he is a kindly husband, he is there much as a friendly visitor, but his real home remains in the house in which he was born."

The husband has no permanent residence in the woman's house, and at dusk each evening the men may be seen walking across the village to join their wives and families. The father has no rights over his children, who belong wholly to the wife's _suku_, or clan. But this in no way implies that the father is unknown, for monogamy is the rule; as is usual the question is one rather of social right than of relationship. The maternal uncle is the male head of the house, and exercises under the mother the duties of a father to the children. The brother of the eldest grandmother is the male head of the family settlement and the clan consists of a number of these families. It would seem that these male rulers act as the agents of the female members, whose authority is great. This power is dependent on the inheritance; as is the descent, so is the property, and its transmission is arranged for the benefit of the maternal lineage. For this reason daughters are preferred rather than sons.

This account of the Padang Malays may be supplemented by the Jesuit missionary De Mailla's description of the maternal marriage in the Island of Formosa.[84] Speaking of this marriage, McGee says: "If it had received the notice it deserves, it might long ago have placed the study of maternal inst.i.tutions on a sounder basis."

[84] _Lettres edefiantes et curieux_, Vol. XVIII, p. 441, copied in Dunhalde, _Description de la Clune_, Vol. I, p.

166, and cited by McGee.

"The Formosan youth wishing to marry makes music day by day at the maid's door, till, if willing, she comes out to him, and when they are agreed, the parents are told, and the marriage feast is prepared in the bride's house, whence the bridegroom returns no more to his father, regarding his father-in-law's house as his own, and himself as the support of it, while his own father's house is no more to him than in Europe the bride's home is henceforth to her when she quits it to live with her husband. Thus the Formosans set no store on sons, but aspire to have daughters, who procure them sons-in-law to become the support of their old age."

It will be noted that here the house is spoken of as the father's, and not as belonging to the mother. The bridegroom is the suitor, and we see the creeping in of property considerations always a.s.sociated with the rise of father-right. Though the husband has as yet no recognised position and lives in the wife's home, he is valued for his service to his father-in-law, clearly a step in the direction of property a.s.sertion. Among many of the Malay hill tribes of Formosa the maternal system is dying out, though the old law forbidding marriage within the clan remains in force.

These changes must be expected wherever the transition towards father-right has begun; the older forms of courtship and marriage, so favourable to the woman, are replaced by patriarchal customs. One or two curious examples of primitive courtship, in which the initiative is taken entirely by the girl may be noted here. Among the Garos tribe it is not only the privilege, but the duty of the girl to select her lover, while an infringement of this rule is severely and summarily punished. Any declaration made on the part of the young man is regarded as an insult to the whole _mahari_ (motherhood) to which the girl belongs, a stain only to be expiated by liberal presents made at the expense of the _mahari_ of the over-forward lover. The marriage customs are equally curious. On the morning of the wedding a ceremony very similar to capture takes place, only it is the bridegroom who is abducted. He pretends to be unwilling and runs away and hides, but he is caught by the friends of the bride. Then he is taken by force, weeping as he goes, in spite of the resistance and counterfeited grief of his parents and friends, to the bride's house, where he takes up his residence with his mother-in-law. It is instructive to find that these marriages are usually successful. Although divorce is easy, it is not frequent. "The Garos will not hastily make engagements, because, when they do make them, they intend to keep them."[85]

[85] Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_, pp. 64, 142.

See also Tylor, "The Matriarchal Theory," _Nineteenth Century_, July 1896, p. 89.

In Paraguay, we are told, the women are generally endowed with stronger pa.s.sions than the men, and are allowed to make the proposals.[86] So also among the Ahitas of the Philippine Islands, where, if her clan-parents will not consent to a love match the girl seizes the young man by the hair, carries him off, and declares she has run away with him. In such a case it appears the marriage is held to be valid whether the parents consent or not.[87] A similar custom of a gentler character, is practised by the Tarrahumari Indians of Northern Mexico, among whom, according to Lumboltz, the maiden is a persistent wooer employing a _repertoire_ of really exquisite love songs to soften the heart of a reluctant swain.[88] Again, in New Guinea, where the women held a very independent position, "the girl is always regarded as the seducer. Women steal men." A youth who proposed to a girl would be making himself ridiculous, would be called a woman, and laughed at by the girls. The usual method by which a girl proposes is to send a present to the youth by a third party, following this up by repeated gifts of food; the young man sometimes waits a month or two, receiving presents all the time, in order to a.s.sure himself of the girl's constancy, before decisively accepting her advances.[89]

[86] Moore, _Marriage Customs: Modes of Courtship_, etc., p.

261. Rengger, _Naturgeschichte der Saugelliere von Paraguay_, p. 11, cited by Westermarck, _op. cit._, p. 158.

[87] J. M. Wheeler, "Primitive Marriage," an article in _Progress_, 1885, p. 128.

[88] McGee, "The Beginning of Marriage," _American Anthropologist_, Vol. IX.

[89] Haddon, "Western Tribes of the Torres States," _Journal of the Anthropological Society_, Vol. XIX, Feb. 1890. Cited by Havelock Ellis, _Psychology of s.e.x_, Vol. III, p. 185.

It is clear that these cases, which I have chosen from a number of similar courtship customs, differ very much from what is our idea of the customary role of the girl and her lover. To me they are very instructive. They show the error of the long-held belief in the pa.s.sivity of the female as a natural law of the s.e.x.[90] Such openness of conduct in courtship is impossible except where women hold an entirely independent position. Here, then, is another advantage that may be claimed as arising for women out of the maternal system. I claim this: the woman's right of selection in love--yes, her greatest right, one that is necessary for a freer and more beautiful mating.

[90] For further examination of this question of the supposed pa.s.sivity of the woman in courtship, see _The Truth about Woman_, pp. 65-69, 251-257.

Terminating this short digression, I return to my examination of the peoples among whom the family is especially maternal.

The Pelew Islanders of the South Sea have customs in many respects the same as those of the Khasi tribes. They preserve strict maternal descent, and like the Khasis, the deities of all the clans are G.o.ddesses. The life and social habits of the people have been described by Kubary, a careful and sympathetic observer, for long resident in the island.[91] The tribes are divided into exogamous clans, and intermarriage between any relations on the mother's side is unlawful. These clans are grouped together in villages and the life is of a communal character. Each village consists of about a score of clans, and forms with its lands a petty independent state.

[91] _Die socialen Einrichtungen der Pelauer. Die Religion, de Pelauer._ Mr. Frazer, _Golden Bough_, Part IV, _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, pp. 387 _et seq._, summarises the account of Kubary. See also Waitz-Gerland, Vol. V, Part II, p. 106 _et seq._, and an account of the Pelews given by Ymer.

Again we find the maternal system intimately connected with religious ideas, and it is interesting to recall what was said by Bachofen: "Wherever gynaecocracy meets us the mystery of religion is bound up with it, and lends to motherhood an incorporation in some divinity."

Among these Islanders every family traces its descent from a woman--the common mother of the clan. And for this reason the members worship a G.o.ddess and not a G.o.d. In the different states there are, besides other special deities, usually a G.o.ddess and a G.o.d, but as these are held to be derived directly from a household-G.o.ddess, it is evident that here, as among the Khasis, G.o.ddesses are older than the G.o.ds. This is shown also by the names of the G.o.ddesses. There is another fact of interest: some women are reputed to be the wives of the G.o.ds, they are called _Amalalieys_ and have a great honour paid to them, while their children pa.s.s for the offspring of the G.o.ds.

The reverence paid to the ancestral G.o.ddesses is explained by Mr.

Kubary as arising from the importance of women in the clans.

"The existence of the clan depends entirely on the life of the women, and not at all on the life of the men. If the women survive, it is no matter though every man in the clan should perish, for the women will, as usual, marry men of another clan, and their offspring will inherit their mother's clan, and thereby prolong its existence. Whereas if the women of the clan die out the clan necessarily becomes extinct, even if every man in it should survive; for the men must, as usual, marry women of another clan, and their offspring will inherit their mother's clan and not the clan of the father, which accordingly, with the death of the father, is wiped off the community."

I quote this pa.s.sage because it shows so clearly what I am claiming, that descent through the mother, under the condition of strict exogamy, conferred a very marked distinction on the female members of the clan, whose existence depended on them; this cannot possibly have failed to act favourably on their position. I may note, too, in pa.s.sing, the fallacy of Mr. McLennan's view that polyandry (which, it will be remembered, he held to have been developed from and connected with mother-descent) arose as a result of female infanticide. Such a practice is clearly impossible in clans whose existence depends on the life of its female members; daughters among them are prized more highly than sons.

The case we are now examining affords the strongest confirmation of the honour paid to women under the strict maternal system. Take alone the t.i.tles that these Pelew islanders give to their women, as _Adhalal a pelu_, "mothers of the land," and _Adhalal a blay_, "mothers of the clan." The testimony of those who know their customs is that the women enjoy complete equality with the men in every respect. Mr. Kubary affirms the predominance of female influence in all the social life of the clan. He a.s.serts, without qualification, that the women both politically and socially enjoy a position superior to that of the men.

The eldest women in the clans exercise the most decisive influence in the conduct of affairs; the head men do nothing without full consultation with them, and their power extends to affairs of state and even to foreign politics. No chief would venture to come to a decision without the approval of the mothers of the families. As one consequence of this power the women have clubs of a.s.sociation similar to the clubs of men that are common in so many tribes. A curious privilege given to women is recorded: "The women have an unlimited privilege of striking, fining, or if it be done on the spot, killing any man who makes his way into their bathing places."[92]

[92] Semper, _Die Palau-Inseln_, p. 68, cited by Westermarck _op. cit._, p. 211.

The marriage customs I shall pa.s.s over briefly, as they are similar to those of other tribes under the maternal system, though changes may be noted, such, for instance, as presents in the form of a kind of bride-price being given by the bridegroom to the parents of the bride.

This is not a maternal custom, and although half of such presents belongs by right to the girl, it is clearly a form of wife-purchase.

Then polygamy is practised, though it is expressly stated to be uncommon.[93] There is now a marriage ceremony. Divorce still remains free, and the conditions are favourable for the wife. Jealousy is said to be prevalent both among the men and the women. The wedding monologue is interesting and indicates the relative position of the female and male members of the family. The salutation is as follows--

[93] Ymer, Vol. IV, p. 333.

"Hei, thou, oh mother; oh grandmothers; oh maternal uncle; oh elder grandmother; oh younger grandfather; oh elder grandfather! As the flesh has fallen the ring has been put on.... You will all of you give ear [the ancestresses and ancestors] you will continue giving strength and spirit that they [the bride and bridegroom] may be well."

There is left an important fact to consider, which explains the persistence of the women's authority under marriage conditions much less favourable than the complete maternal form. The Pelew women have another source of power; their position has an industrial as well as a kinship basis. In this island the people subsist mainly on the produce of their taro fields, and the cultivation of this, their staple food, is carried out by the women alone. And this identification of women with the industrial process has without doubt contributed materially to the predominance of female influence on the social life of the people. Wherever the control over the means of production is in the hands of women, we find them exercising influence and even authority.

Among these islanders the women do not merely bestow life on the people, they also work to obtain that which is most essential for the preservation of life, and therefore they are called "mothers of the land."[94] Now, considering this honour paid to the Pelew women, it is clearly impossible to regard their work in cultivating the taro as a sign of their subordinate position in the social order. The facts of primitive life are often mistaken. This is a question to which I shall refer again in a later chapter.

[94] Frazer, _op. cit._, p. 380.

In the same way among the Pani Kotches, tribes of Bengal, we find the women in a privileged position, due to their greater industrial activity and intelligence.

"It is the women's business to dig the soil, to sow and plant, as well as to spin, weave and brew beer; they refuse no task, and leave only the coa.r.s.est labour to the men. The mother of the family marries her daughter at an early age; at the feast of betrothal she dispenses half as much again to the bride as to the bridegroom-elect. As for the grown-up girls and the widows, they know very well how to find husbands; the wealthy never lack partners. The chosen one goes to reside with his mother-in-law, who both reigns and governs, with her daughter for prime minister. If the consort permits himself to incur expenses without special authorisation, he must meet them as best he can. Fathers of families have been known to be sold as slaves, the wives refusing to pay the penalties they incurred. Under these circ.u.mstances, it was lawful for them to marry again."[95]

[95] Hodgson, _Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal_, 1847 (Dalton).

Here, as among the Pelew islanders, special industrial conditions are combined with the maternal system, and as a result we find what may, perhaps, be termed "an economic matriarchy." Another cause of authority, quite as powerful, is the possession by women of inherited property. Among barbarous peoples the importance of this is not so great, but where mother-descent has, for any reason, been maintained up to a time when individual possession has been developed and property is large, we meet with a remarkable "pecuniary matriarchate,"

based on the women holding the magic power of money.