Feminist Anthropology and the Question of Gender

This chapter highlights the ethnographic range of differences between men and women, the wide array of social roles women play, differences in their public status, cultural definitions and daily activities. It examines the development of the anthropology of gender by the formation of feminist anthropology from the 1970s. Recognising the exclusion of women from anthropological texts, pioneers in this field sought to establish anthropology of women, which soon grew and diversified into the broader study of gender relations and gendered identities. The chapter considers advances in the field of kinship studies, where the mutual influence of anthropological work and the writings of gender theorists are particularly evident. It is worth pausing at this point to reflect on the relationship between anthropology and feminism, discussions of which bear the imprint of developments in the broader anthropology of gender.