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Egalitarianism in Batek society

p. 25 they saw men and women as being different in various ways, but

did not regard these differences as making either sex superior to theother.

p. 28 this story suggests that men and women are distinct in shape butessentially the same in composition, having been formed of the samematerial and animated by the same kind of soul.

p. 29 according to the Batek, mens breath is stronger than womens, adifference mentioned primarily in explaining why men are better blowpipehunters than women.

p. 29 Batek sometimes said that men are stronger than women,especially in arms, to explain why men are better at climbing tall trees.

p. 29 Batek also believed that the blood of men and women smellsdifferent. Reasons women do not eat meat or salt during their menstrualperiods.

p. 30-31 Batek clothing differed slightly for men and women. The usualoutfit for men was a loincloth made from a piece of sarong material ofswimming trunks. Men also wore a single-strand rattan waistband. Womenwore loincloths held up by long plaited rattan belts which they wrappedaround their hips ten or twenty times. (When women plaited new belts,they gave their husbands or children pieces of their old belts to wear.)

p. 31 some women tattooed lines across their foreheads or across theirwrists. Women and occasionally men painted lines and dots on theirforeheads with white lime paste and charcoal. All women, but not men,had their ears pierced, so they could wear flowers, rolled-up fragrantleaves, or even cigarettes in the holes. Girls decided for themselves whenthey were ready to have it done.

p. 32 body decorations worn in ritual were similar for both sexes. Therule was only women could wear bunches of flowers in their ears, and only

men could wear flowers in their armbands. These flowers were consideredmarkers of the wearers gender.

p. 35 Batek tales suggested that the Batek did not use myth to privilegeone gender over the other.

p. 36 both men and women could become shamans, either by studyingwith a practicing shaman or by learning from superhuman beings throughdreams.

p. 36 both men and women participated fully in Batek rituals.

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p. 43 what we call personal autonomy is based on the Batekexpectations that everyone could do whatever they wanted to do as longas it was consistent with their obligation to help and respect others.

p. 44 people could try to persuade others do to something, but anyone

could simply refuse without any need to explain the refusal. Batek did notaccept the authority of anyone else over themselves.

p. 45 husbands and wives often cooperated and worked together, but asequal, autonomous partners.

They support each other no matter what, only because they areall part of the same society, Batek.

p. 45 Batek regarded each other as basically equal in their intrinsic valueand therefore worthy of respect. All Batek expected to be treated withrespect by all other Batek, regardless of their personal relationships of

feeling about one another. They considered it unacceptable to insult orridicule someone.

p. 47 Batek felt a general obligation to help nu other Batek who neededaid. Adults felt a special obligation to help all youngsters, not just theirown children. Adult children were expected to make special efforts to helptheir aging parents in any way needed.

p. 48 sharing food: the usual procedure was for people to give sharesfirst to their own children and spouse, then to any parents-in-law orparents present and finally to all other families in camp.

p. 52 both parents in a marriage had an equal voice in decisionsaffecting the household, including when and where to move, whateconomic activities to pursue, and how to use their money or trade credit.

p. 63 Batek leadership 2 kinds of leaders: headmen and natural leaders

p. 64 the JHEOA did not accept women as headmen.

p. 64 natural leaders could be male or female

p. 67 Batek ethical principles and social practices provided a basis for

egalitarian relations between men and women.

p. 72 most blowpipe hunting was done by men.

p. 76 women who went blowpipe hunting did it mainly for fun; the dataindicate that women were not highly involved in the activity.

p. 79 usually men both felled the trees and clubbed the bats, althoughsometimes women helped with the clubbing.

p. 79 any combination of men, women and children might participate inhunting porcupines and pangolins.

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p. 79 men, women and children caught tortoises. Usually men dove intothe pools, speared the tortoises and dragged them to the surface.

p.79 women were far more involved in hunting bamboo rats.

p. 80 as in blowpipe hunting, men were more active than women inthese hunting methods.

p. 80 rod and lone fishing was the most frequent method used,especially by women.

Gathering tubers womens job (pp. 82-84)

p. 86 children even infants did not seem to interfere greatly with thetuber-digging routine. Older children might do some digging

p. 87 although women took primarily responsibility for gathering tubers

during the study period, there were several circumstances under whichBatek men also turned to this work. (reasons on page 87)

p. 87 everyone gathered nontuberous vegetables, like banana flowers,ferns, wild ginger, mushrooms, nuts, palm cabbage

p. 89 both men and women planted the rice and vegetable seeds

p. 90 usually young men attempted to get honey

p. 91 both men and women collected and traded some kinds of forestproducts

p. 93 men were more active than women in collecting rattan

p. 93 men were more active than women in carrying out tradetransactions

p. 95 work groups: there were no rules about who could or could notwork together.

p. 98 cooking was done by everyone, including young children. Meatcooking often involved men to a greater extent

p. 99 both men and women processed poisonous foods

p. 100 both men and women collected everyday necessities of waterand firewood. Everyone, including children, made and tended cookingfires at the family heart.

p. 101 building shelters: the husband would cut three saplings for thehouse support, stick them into the ground, and then rush off to hunt Thewife handled the rest of the shelter building

p. 102 women and men alike made most of the tools and goods theyneeded for everyday life (digging sticks, working with metal, sharpeningknives). Hunting equipment was made by men. Both men and women

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made their own loincloths. Both sexes also made flower headdresses anddecorative bamboo combs.

p. 103 bark baskets were made by men and women alike. Rattanbaskets were the specialty of men. Pandanus baskets, as well as

pandanus mats and pouches, were the specialty of the women.

Even though some activities were specifically for men or forwomen, there were always some exceptions, in the sense that awoman could do a mans activity and also a man could do anactivity in which women are specialized. The reasons for that arethe variations of knowledge, skills, and physiological differences.

p. 105 another craft that was the specialty of men was plaiting the longrattan waistbands women normally wore.