WOMS202 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Social Evolution, Charlotte Bunch, Genital Modification And Mutilation
6 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
❖ Gendered States
➢ Malaysia- state intervening
➢ State versus Islam: Malay Families, Women’s Bodies, and the Body Politic in
Malaysia”- Ong
■ Thesis: “I argue that Islamic revivalism reveals itself to be an ideology of
the middle class brought into being by state policies. Furthermore, I argue
that struggles between state power and revivalist Islam over the changing
body politic seem fundamentally to depend on controlling the definition of
Malay woman hood and the family” (342)
➢ What were gender relations like in Sungwai Jawa before the Malaysian state
began to implement its new economic policy in the 1970’s?
■ “Relatively egalitarian relations between the sexes” (343)
■ Women weren’t confined to the household or totally dependent on men
for economic survival
■ Both men and women tapped rubber and tended coffee trees
■ Land shares were given equally to sons and daughters
■ But men were seen as guardians to sister’s, wife’s and daughter’s virtue
➢ What kind of changes did the government promote to “modernize” Malays?
■ Encouraged migration for education and work in urban free trade zones-
strengthened mothers positions in the family- shift of power; young
women came into competition with young males which did not please
them- challenging traditional male power
■ Encouraged family planning to reduce family size
■ Created tension in family- men were hostile to the policy, women wanted
to be able to control their fertility
➢ What kind of gender ideals and relations were promoted by the islamic revival
movement?
■ Promoted more gender-stratified social system than existed in Malay
society
➢ “The Intimacy of state power: Marriage, Liberation and Socialist Subjects in
Southeastern China”- Friedman
■ Natal: relating to, or associated with, one's birth. Your natal family is the
family you are born into.
■ Conjugal: relating to, or associated with marriage, or the relationship
between spouses. Your conjugal family is the family you marry into.
➢ The New Regime’s Efforts to Change Marital Practices
■ Concern-Correlation between marriage customs and stages of social
evolution
● State efforts:
◆ Eliminate arranged marriages
◆ Enforce legal marriage age and marital registration
◆ Encourage wives to live and work with their husbands
immediately after the wedding
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
State versus islam: malay families, women"s bodies, and the body politic in. Thesis: i argue that islamic revivalism reveals itself to be an ideology of the middle class brought into being by state policies. Furthermore, i argue that struggles between state power and revivalist islam over the changing body politic seem fundamentally to depend on controlling the definition of. Women weren"t confined to the household or totally dependent on men for economic survival. Both men and women tapped rubber and tended coffee trees. Land shares were given equally to sons and daughters. But men were seen as guardians to sister"s, wife"s and daughter"s virtue. Encouraged family planning to reduce family size. Created tension in family- men were hostile to the policy, women wanted. What kind of gender ideals and relations were promoted by the islamic revival. Promoted more gender-stratified social system than existed in malay. The intimacy of state power: marriage, liberation and socialist subjects in movement? society.
