Gender in Pohnpei Culture

The society is strongly structured politically and socially and, with respect to the political aspect, men rule. Women have vital and well-defined roles to play, to be sure, but the political aspect of the society is run by men. Gender considerations in this sense favor men:

In fact, the most important key to understanding this culture turned out to be the pervasive traditional political system. . . . Each district is headed by a man called the Nahnmwarski, sometimes translated as king, but more accurately as Paramount Chief or High Chief (14).

Descending from the High Chief are a series of positions filled by men exclusively, again reflecting the male-dominated nature of the political aspect of this society.

The social structure, on the other hand, is determined by women. Ward warns us not to misunderstand the social structure and the role of women in its de

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control over sex or any other area of human life is not law or the formal control of governments. It is the fear of ridicule. It is gossip. . . . This is why gossip is not a trivial activity (37). Gender plays an important role in most aspects of this society, and in most cases it is measured by some combination of tradition and freedom. Sex is practiced with freedom privately, but is talked about in mixed company with traditional restraint. Boys are expected to be more unruly than girls, to engage even in what would be seen by outsiders as criminal activity, but when they behave too destructively, traditional social pressures are used to rein them back in (38; 104-105). Work Cited Ward, Martha C. Nest in the Wind. Waveland: Prospect Heights, Illinois, 1989. Writing of the society of the Pohnpeians, Martha C. Ward, in Nest in the Wind: Adventures in Anthropology on a Tropical Island, reports that this is a small-scale traditional society which has been held together in the face of growing pressures from more modern societies. It has held together in large measure because of the Pohnpeians protection of their traditional ways of life. This secrecy flows from a basic Pohnpeian belief that "The proper Pohnpeian personality
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Approximate Word count = 1542
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)