Topic 4 Question 2 Peter Jensen MWF 9:00-9:50 Margaret Mead came up with two conclusions from her research

in New Guinea. 1. A persons sex does not predetermine their abilities and capabilities, and 2. That gender roles in society are created by the society itself, not predetermined by sex. When Ms. Mead went to New Guinea to study the lives and cultures of three separate tribes, she discovered that two of the tribes were fairly similar in that they didnt really have separate ideologies of gender, and the other tribe had a very firm set on differences between genders. In the two nearly identical tribes, men and women were very similar in their responsibilities. In the Arapesh culture, men and women were equals in every way. Their roles were the same in family and responsibility. Their temperaments were similar and there was a strong sense of community. In the Mundugamor tribe, men and women were still treated very similarly to one another, though the womens outlook on children was rather harsh and bleak. Women hated children, but there was no discrimination between the sexes. The Tchumbali tribe, though, was very controlled by their gender differences. Women were the breadwinners and business goers, whereas the men went shopping and were adorned with jewelry and other niceties. From her research, we can see that even the most primitive of women can be just as strong if not stronger than their male counterparts. The tribes that had equality between genders were as happy and as prosperous as anywhere else, eliminating predetermined gender theories. This proves her theories completely in my opinion.

To have seen the world segregate so many of its people simply based on their gender for all of those years is a sad thing to remember. These tribes proved that harmony and equality made them a much stronger people. They dont have the technologies or advancements that we do, yet we act more primitive than they do in our mindsets of gender roles. To claim that they are any worse than us is just wrong and pathetic. Yes, we have made a lot of advancements in our views of equality between both sexes, but that stigma of gender roles is still very prominent in our thoughts and the way that we do things. Men still make much more money than women. Women are still looked down upon in certain work fields, especially politics and manual labors. Unfortunately, I feel that we have held on to that stigma for much too long that it may never go away, at least not any time soon. When we stop and look at these lesser people and learn from their examples, we will not only learn valuable lessons, but hopefully it will begin to encourage more equality and less stigmatic behaviors and thoughts.