Women's rights and women's rites: a cross-cultural study of womanpower

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By Zelman, Elizabeth Crouch

Abstract

This paper examines ritual surrounding the female reproductive cycle and its relationship with female power. Data support two patterns: female pollution ritual tends to take place in relatively complex societies with low female contribution to subsistence, low female status, unilineal kinship and extended families; male productive ritual, on the other hand, tends to take place in societies with higher female contribution to subsistence, higher female status, cognatic kinship and small families.
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: Amelia Piazza