Saturday, September 22, 2007 by g3 blog
3.0. Roles of Woman in the Present
In the previous sections, we have discussed about the roles of minangkabau woman held in the past. We have made a prediction, prior to the trip, based on our initial research (hypothesis) that the roles of minangkabau woman have changed over time. After analyzing our findings during the trip, we found our prediction true to a large extent. However, there are some roles that still persist despite all the massive economic, social and ideological influences.
3.1. Similarities with the Past
There are roles that woman hold that will never change. These roles are as a custodian, caretaker of her family and ensuring the survival of her clan. According to the three women we interviewed in Singapore, these roles “sampai kiamat pun tak akan berubah.” It means that even till the end of the world, these roles will not change. The customary land will forever belong to woman. Even in the new age whereby woman also serve breadwinners in the family, their most important role in the family is still as a caretaker. Also, female children are still needed to carry on the clan’s name as it cannot be done by males.
While the abovementioned roles still remain, others perished along the economic, social and ideological changes.
3.2.1. Impact of Economic Change on Woman’s Roles
As mentioned beforehand, society was very dependent on the agricultural sector in the past. However, the industrial shift from primary industries to secondary industries reduced the society’s dependency. The custom inheritance of Adat allows women to control the means of production and their living conditions. Then, women are able to decide how to use the land for agriculture, farmhouse and house. As a result, men are working on lands which belong to their wife or wife’s kin and they do not own them. If men divorce with his wife, he will lose all the investments he made on the land of his wife/wife’s kin (Kassim, n.d., p. 32). After Malaysia shift her industry from primary industry to secondary and tertiary industry, many men choose to work in the city. Some of them even migrated to the urban areas to work in these new industries. “If matrilineal rights over rice plots no longer constitutes socio-economic power in the rapidly industrializing Malaysian context and are even left fallow,” (Sloane, 1998, p. 1) the woman no longer play the role of an ‘employer’ in the family and society. Industrial shift also allowed woman to become more enterprising. They are no longer limited to doing household chores. Some set up home businesses such as selling kuih. They are no longer limited to taking care of her family. They can also earn money for their own or family use. Hence their roles have changed due to economic changes.
Secondly, many people in the village no longer worship Adat Perpatih and this leads to the degrading of women’s status. This is mainly because they were not thought about Adat Perpatih. Villagers who understand about Adat Perpatih feel that it is very troublesome to practice the Adat Perpatih. Consequently, the Adat Perpatih is gone from their lives. With the pressure of capitalization, many villagers regard individualism as more significant than communalism. This sense of individualism and the lack of understanding of Adat Perpatih have caused a number of misunderstandings among lineage members (Kassim, n.d., p. 35). Thus roles of woman are being discarded due to the social changes.
3.2.3. Impact of Ideological Influences on Roles of Woman
Finally under the influence of globalization, the village’s religion and cultures face treats from other cultures. When the villagers travel aboard or go to the city to work, they bring back different customs. Most importantly, the development of tourism industry in the village also encourage varies form of culture exchange. Different ideologies have different perception on what roles woman should play. For example, for the more urban areas, they believe man and woman should be treated as equal. The newer generation of minangkabau people may get influenced by this ideology and choose to follow it. As the result, woman may no longer occupy her central position in the society and family.
In the previous sections, we have discussed about the roles of minangkabau woman held in the past. We have made a prediction, prior to the trip, based on our initial research (hypothesis) that the roles of minangkabau woman have changed over time. After analyzing our findings during the trip, we found our prediction true to a large extent. However, there are some roles that still persist despite all the massive economic, social and ideological influences.
3.1. Similarities with the Past
There are roles that woman hold that will never change. These roles are as a custodian, caretaker of her family and ensuring the survival of her clan. According to the three women we interviewed in Singapore, these roles “sampai kiamat pun tak akan berubah.” It means that even till the end of the world, these roles will not change. The customary land will forever belong to woman. Even in the new age whereby woman also serve breadwinners in the family, their most important role in the family is still as a caretaker. Also, female children are still needed to carry on the clan’s name as it cannot be done by males.
Figure 6: In the new age the role woman is still a caretaker.
3.2. Differences with the Past
While the abovementioned roles still remain, others perished along the economic, social and ideological changes.
3.2.1. Impact of Economic Change on Woman’s Roles
As mentioned beforehand, society was very dependent on the agricultural sector in the past. However, the industrial shift from primary industries to secondary industries reduced the society’s dependency. The custom inheritance of Adat allows women to control the means of production and their living conditions. Then, women are able to decide how to use the land for agriculture, farmhouse and house. As a result, men are working on lands which belong to their wife or wife’s kin and they do not own them. If men divorce with his wife, he will lose all the investments he made on the land of his wife/wife’s kin (Kassim, n.d., p. 32). After Malaysia shift her industry from primary industry to secondary and tertiary industry, many men choose to work in the city. Some of them even migrated to the urban areas to work in these new industries. “If matrilineal rights over rice plots no longer constitutes socio-economic power in the rapidly industrializing Malaysian context and are even left fallow,” (Sloane, 1998, p. 1) the woman no longer play the role of an ‘employer’ in the family and society. Industrial shift also allowed woman to become more enterprising. They are no longer limited to doing household chores. Some set up home businesses such as selling kuih. They are no longer limited to taking care of her family. They can also earn money for their own or family use. Hence their roles have changed due to economic changes.
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Figure 7: Kuih Bahulu baked by woman to earn extra income
Secondly, many people in the village no longer worship Adat Perpatih and this leads to the degrading of women’s status. This is mainly because they were not thought about Adat Perpatih. Villagers who understand about Adat Perpatih feel that it is very troublesome to practice the Adat Perpatih. Consequently, the Adat Perpatih is gone from their lives. With the pressure of capitalization, many villagers regard individualism as more significant than communalism. This sense of individualism and the lack of understanding of Adat Perpatih have caused a number of misunderstandings among lineage members (Kassim, n.d., p. 35). Thus roles of woman are being discarded due to the social changes.
3.2.3. Impact of Ideological Influences on Roles of Woman
Finally under the influence of globalization, the village’s religion and cultures face treats from other cultures. When the villagers travel aboard or go to the city to work, they bring back different customs. Most importantly, the development of tourism industry in the village also encourage varies form of culture exchange. Different ideologies have different perception on what roles woman should play. For example, for the more urban areas, they believe man and woman should be treated as equal. The newer generation of minangkabau people may get influenced by this ideology and choose to follow it. As the result, woman may no longer occupy her central position in the society and family.
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