Bedouin Society & Role of Women

The purpose of this research is to examine the nature of Bedouin society. The plan of the research will be to set forth a working definition of Bedouin society, and then to discuss the meaning and justification of the claim that women exercise little power in the public realm in that society but considerable power in its private or domestic realm.

According to Sandra Mackey, Bedouin society is identified chiefly with the nomad subsistence existence, existing in a desert climate, outside the boundaries and conventions of nationalism and civilization as it is most commonly understood, but within the context of tribal and family loyalties (21, 23). There is, however, an identifiable social structure, predicated of "patrilineal families locked in steadfast fidelity and sacred obligation" (24) in relatively small social units. Mackey describes the Bedouin society as being historically bound by "the imperative of family," a consequence of the fact that the quality or indeed persistence of Bedouin life is determined by the degree and kind of commitment of the individual to the whole.

Pressures to conform, to uphold the collective good, and to live by the unwritten by universally recognized moral code of the group bound every member. The message was so effective because the reality was so stark--without the support and protection of the kin group, the individual would be lost (Mackey 24).

Inevitably, a society with these attributes would be insular, relative to other culture

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perhaps even imagined. The position of women in this whole scheme can readily be inferred in general terms, as part and parcel of tradition, custom, and habit. Patrilineality, hierarchy, and the enforcement of specific behavior patterns speak to male authority over social structure as a matter of logic and historical custom; why should Arabs be any different? To the degree the maintenance and enforcement of the basic social structure can be considered a public function, then, it follows that women would exercise little power in the public realm. Indeed, compared to the basic activities of Bedouin men, the basic activities of women can be seen as very much cut off from outside the tribe. Men have historically attended to traditional Bedouin activities such as sheep herding and shearing, while it falls to women to attend to such domestic details as cooking and midwifery. Abu-Lughod also describes the Bedouin practice of "rubbishing," the name given to activities that originated in World War II, when Bedouin men would sort through discarded war materiel, particularly after battles, for items that could either be sold at market or adapted for use in camp. Bedouin men would take everything from scrap metal to weapons to market. Item

Category: History - B