Shared responsibility; Some aspects of gender and authority in Makassar society

• Published in: Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde Vol. 156; no. 3; pp. 521 - 538
• Main Author: Röttger-Rössler, Birgitt
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Brill 01.01.2000; KITLV Press; Koninklijke Brill NV
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Authority; Ceremonial objects; Diseases; Gender; Gender relations; Gender roles; Inanimate Objects; Indonesia; Interest groups; Leadership; Mediation; Men; Myth; Opposite Sex Relations; Political organizations; Politics; Religion; Religion Politics Relationship; Religious Beliefs; Religious rituals; Respondents; Rituals; Social history; Social Power; Social systems; Socialization; Society; Sulawesi; Supernatural; Traditional Societies; Villages; Vows; Women; Womens Roles; Sulawesi; Indonesia
• ISSN: 0006-2294; 2213-4379; 0006-2294
• DOI: 10.1163/22134379-90003838

According to the ideal patterns of conduct, as commonly defined both by male and female informants, only men are supposed to engage in activities outside the house or in locations other than their own village.24 If such information is viewed against the background of the strict separation of the sexes in Makassarese society, it appears as if only men were playing leading roles in regard to 'formal' leadership and authority, while the scope of women's autonomy was confined to the 'informal' sphere comprising socialization and household matters. [...]on the one hand, considerable authority is assigned to women in the political sphere, which becomes most evident in the institution of the 'female adaq' (adaq baine), who function as female counterparts of the members of the traditional governmental council, and who are regarded as mediators between the village population and their leaders. Female dominancein these rituals not only refers to the actual ritual performance (case 1), but also to mediation (cases 3 and 4) in regard to the transfer of human ihtentions and wishes to the spirit of the sacred object. Since the ins'titutionalized domiriance of women in the religious sphere is most clearly manifested in matters of individual belief and the safeguarding of close relatives (rituals relating to vows, rites of passage, etc), it does not contradict the normative Standard according to which female tasks center around household and family As exmplified by case 2, the range of female authority in this respect is by no means confined to problems of secondary importance. For, all of these terms are biased in that they in most discussions - despite profnd criticism, as, for example, put forward by S. Rogers (1975) - still imply the notion that only those decisions which are made in formal positions were of utmost importance and public relevance. Since formal positions are commonly supposed t be occupied by the male members of a society, such arguments lead to the simplified conclusion that men were invariably dominant irt terms of power and authority.