Notes on the Bontok gender beliefs

(The fourth of a series)

The restrictions imposed on Bontok women mostly had to do with war. As mentioned earlier, women were not allowed in the male dormitories and this was only because those were the venues for talking about war. Women should not at all be implicated in those matters since:

(1) women should not die in war
(2) women have other more important concerns

Respect for women

It was discussed previously that men were not supposed to kill women during war because the Bontok associates women with life due to their natural capacity to give birth. Women were to be respected for man comes out of her (double meaning unintended!). Precisely because of this was female genitalia not supposed to be gazed upon.

In addition, men were not supposed to hurt women. The film does not mention if there was a law against this in their code. But it is said that the elders taught that violence against women makes one less of a man, suggesting that it was more of a moral principle than a legal prohibition.

The fascinating thing about this is that females being the "weaker sex" has nothing to do with it. It's not even an issue. They didn't seem to be so fixated with power, which is what rape is said to be about.

No gender-restricted jobs

Although women were considered to have their own "thing" which they should concern themselves with instead of war, there wasn't really much gender-restriction in the work they do, aside from those dictated by biology such as breastfeeding and pregnancy.

Men and women both worked in the fields. The women had to sow the seeds for a bountiful harvest, a practice consistent with the belief that women are the source of life. The men were not prohibited to sow seeds-- they could if they wanted to-- it's just that they believed that the plants would die if it were the men that sowed.

There were male and female elders. Although the women were not allowed to join war, it were the elderly women who were preferred to serve as community police or tanod to maintain peace and order, and to guard the gates of the village during rest day (more about this in the next post) because they are stricter.

Men and women did the same household chores. The men cooked, did laundry, and took care of the young as much as the women did, to the point that when men from other tribes pass by and see them doing house chores, the Bontok men get teased and they didn't understand why.

Other practices

The Bontok did not use surnames. One was simply one's self. There was no need to be someone's offspring or spouse. There was no male family name to pass on. Marriage wasn't even mandatory as there were elders who remained unmarried. This supports the "lack" of power struggle between the genders.

Women were allowed to drink alcohol. There was no restriction against it. The restriction was for young boys to drink. Still, the women did not drink simply because they didn't want to. Drunk women could not be taken advantage of since there were none.