THE TWO-HEADED HOUSEHOLD by Sarah Hamilton ( 9780822940722 ) - Books & Audio Books at Pickabook.co.uk

Item Details

Title:

THE TWO-HEADED HOUSEHOLD
GENDER AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE ECUADOREAN ANDES

By:

Format:

Hardback

List price:	£53.50
We currently do not stock this item, please contact the publisher directly for further information.

ISBN 10:

0822940728

ISBN 13:

9780822940722

Publisher:

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH PRESS

Pub. date:

1 October, 1998

Pages:

332

Description:

An ethnographic account of gender relations and intrahousehold decision making as well as a policy-oriented study of gender and development in the indigenous Andean community of Chanchalo, Ecuador, where men and women participate equally in agricultural production, child care and food preparation.

Synopsis:

The Two-Headed Household is an ethnographic account of gender relations and intrahousehold decisionmaking as well as a policy-oriented study of gender and development in the indigenous Andean community of Chanchalo, Ecuador, Hamilton's Main argument is that the households in these farming communities are "two-headed". Men and women participate equally in agricultural production and management, in household decision making, and share in the reproductive tasks of child care, food preparation, and other chores.In case studies of five women and their families, the author continually encounters joint decision making and shared household and agricultural responsibilities. In fact, it often seems that women have rile final say in many decisions. There is the belief that a dynamic balance of power between male and female heads provides an impetus toward mutually desired economic and social goals. Despite the strong influence of the patriarchal power of the hacienda system, Andean gender ideology accords women and men equal measures of physical, mental, and emotional fortitude. The belief that maintaining traditional forms of economic collaboration helped them survive on the hacienda was reinforced under the economic and political domination of the patriarchal systems of the landed elite, church, and state.Today, these people are proud of their strong women, strong families, and community solidarity which they believe distinguishes them from Ecuadorean and American societies. Hamilton suggests that women in developing countries should not be viewed as simply, or even inevitably, victims of gender-biased structural or cultural institutions. They may resist male bias, perhaps even with therapport of local-level institutions. The Two-Headed Household demonstrates that analysis of gender relations should focus on Forms of cooperation among women and men, as well as on forms of conflict, and will be of interest to scholars and students in anthropology, gender and development, and Latin American Studies.

Illustrations:

illustrations

Publication:

Imprint:

University of Pittsburgh Press

Returns:

Returnable

Some other items by this author:

CHURCH AND PEOPLE IN THE MEDIEVAL WEST, 900-1200