depending on the society to which a woman be-
longs. Among the predominantly Anglo-Celtic
Australian feminists, a liberal attitude prevails in
ensuring women’s freedom from violence in the pri-
vate sphere and their access to the public sphere
(Bulbeck 1998, 8). These feminists often apply
the same yardstick to Australian women of non-
English speaking background, insisting that they
too should be speaking, autonomous, authoritative
subjects in both the private and public spheres.
Women’s authority within non-English speaking
communities, however, operates somewhat differ-
ently from that of Anglo-Celtic Australian women.
Among Aborigines, for example, a woman’s au-
thority increases as she ages, even though this
authority is never fully equal to that of a man
(White 1974, 37). While women’s authority in
many aspects of life (such as economic matters, the
betrothal ceremony, and religious ritual) is never
formally acknowledged or equal by Western stan-
dards, women do take a role in influencing and
supporting male decisions. The only aspects over
which women take full in charge are those linked to
major life events, such as menstruation, pregnancy,
and childbirth, which is performed in secrecy and
without male attendance. Women’s authority is
thus more informal, and it increases or decreases
depending on age, the husband-wife relation, the
parent-child relation, kinship, and economic power
(Berndt 1974, 67–70).
Many non-Anglo-Celtic Australians are Muslim
women who migrated to Australia along with their
families or were born in Australia. As their immi-
gration status is closely related to that of the fam-
ily, gender-based definitions operate within that
unit, especially among married women who choose
to maintain the household and take care of the chil-
dren in order to educate them properly (Yasmeen
2002, 220–1). Women’s full engagement with the
family, the division of labor within the family, their
lack of education, the language barrier, the wearing
of the ™ijàb, and stereotypical images of Muslim
women among Anglo-Celtic Australians as subor-
dinate all restrict Muslim women’s participation in
the public sphere (Yasmeen 2002, 224–7, Rozario
1998, 654). This limited participation, however,
like their marginal status as immigrants, is not
restricted to Muslim women, but is common
among women with a non-English speaking back-
grounds as well.
Women and gender in the
Pacific Islands
As in Australia, the social hierarchies that shape
the construction of gender and women’s lives in the
east asia, southeast asia, australia, and the pacific 747Pacific Islands are far from homogeneous. Coloni-
zation, self-government, the flow of urbanization,
employment, and the demand for cash cropping are
the contending issues that alter realities in the
Pacific Islands and women’s lives in general (Marsh
1998, 666). Despite the changes that these have
entailed, indigenous cultures still have an effect on
women’s lives. Among the Anganen of the Southern
Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea, for
instance, men enjoy a higher status than women.
Male territoriality, patrilocality, patrilineality, vir-
ilocality, and clanship support a social order in
which wives provide the bride-price for their
exchange, are separated from their natal kinfolk
and are totally absorbed into their husbands’ clans
(Merrett-Balkos 1998, 233). By contrast, in soci-
eties where there are few differences between matri-
lineality and patrilineality, such as in the Solomon
Islands, the status of women as “breeders and feed-
ers” increases their self-reliance (Bulbeck 1998,
124). In short, the hierarchical social system affects
the way men and women relate in their daily
lives, ritual practice, public roles, and access to
opportunities.Conclusion
While the social hierarchies that shape women
and gender in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia,
and the Pacific are far from unitary given the vast
geographical extent of this region, their diverse cul-
tures, and the varying degree of external pressures,
they share one thing in common: traditional norms
that preserve the prevailing image of women as
reproducers and nurturers and maintain the
entrenched notion of the sexual division of labor.
Yet while these traditions will continue to exert
their influence on women, progress toward gender
equality will continue to flourish, as more women
become involved in policy-making that affects
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