Cashinahua Men Versus Cashinahua Women

The Fundamental Aspects of the Division of Labor

May 29, 2009

Cashinahua men and women have keep themselves separated by jobs for as long as the people can remember. Men are hunters, and women are the caretakers of land and people.

The Cashinahua people of Eastern Peru have a complex society that has rules and regulations for all aspects of life. They are also called the Kaxinaua by their own people. The concept of the land being sustained by impoverished fauna leads to a cultural mentality that believes in a ‘protein deficiency’, even in times of surplus. It can be said that the sexual division of labor is categorized by the anatomy of men and women; where men get jobs whose tools take on a phallic shape, and women get jobs whose tools are uterine shaped.

Adaptation of Rainforest Animals and the Concept of the ‘Protein Problem’

Impoverished ‘island’ fauna is apparent with the new animals currently in existence and the old animals endangered, or extinct. As evidence, there are no big mammals (old) in the rainforest, but only medium sized and small animals (new) remain. This evolutionally changed happened during the Pleistocene Era. What can be hunted, the remains are used as hunting magic totems. For example, Cashinahua men wear jewelry of animal teeth and claws. The jewelry can be seen as a piece to wear to absorb the strength of the animal that was killed, thus called mythic substitution. The jewelry is also used by men as a status and prestige symbol. Women and children continuously complain about not having enough meat to eat, thus the idea of a ‘Protein Problem’. The Cashinahua have a profusion of meat, but the people believe in the idea of a scarcity due to cultural norms. In other words, what the village desires will be asked for constantly, even if there is plenty of it for a nutritional balance.

The Division of Labor is Sexually Driven

The sexual division of labor is based on the sexual anatomy of males and females. According to the Cashinahua men, women are inferior to men and not hunters, because women lack the genitalia of men. Hunting is a male’s only activity within the lowland societies. The high regard given to hunters gives them the right to declare their dominance over the women, because women don’t hunt. Women on the other hand, use explanations of ignorance of how to hunt, infants, spirits, and dangers in the forest as reasons as to why they are not hunters. Women are seen as the caregivers of the villages. The women can be gatherers of fruits and berries to and from their gardens which are not far from the village sites, but men are also known to gather these things while hunting.

Women are the gardeners of the male structured gardens, they have and rear children, they are the cooks, and they are the ones to keep the fires for food production going. Their crafts are generative. The women’s jobs are expected, and are done on a frequent daily cycle. Men are the hunters, the prestigious occupation to hold. They hunt a couple times a week, and when the prey gets scarce, the men travel further away from the villages. Their jobs are regarded as highly dangerous. Men clear out the areas to be gardened, they help in the gardens from time to time but they are full time hunters, and they are the one that provide fire. Their crafts are deconstructive crafts. Males use phallic shaped tools, such as bow and long arrows, blowgun, lance and clubs. Females use uterine shaped tools that tare needed in their daily lives, such as burden baskets, digging sticks, and baby carriers.

The Cashinahua are strong people whose beliefs shape their entire lives, and enable them to survive in the dangers of the rainforest. Although prey is getting harder to find, hunting is still the vital engagement for men to carry out in order to provide sufficient meat supplies for their families. Hunting is used as a domination tool. Everything that is done in daily life is sexually organized, but it is understood that without the work of one, the other will not survive. This gives the idea of a perfect working balance between men and women.

Aquino, Terri Vale de (1977). "The Kaxinaua." In Brazil: Special Report. Cambridge, Mass.: Cultural Survival.

Kensinger, Kenneth M. (1984). "An Emic Model of Cashinahua Marriage." In Marriage Practices in Lowland South America, edited by Kenneth M. Kensinger, 221-251. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Kensinger, Kenneth M. (1995). How Real People Ought to Live: The Cashinahua of Easter Peru. Prospect Hills, Illinois: Waveland Press.

The copyright of the article Cashinahua Men Versus Cashinahua Women in Cultural Anthropology is owned by Maureen Zieber. Permission to republish Cashinahua Men Versus Cashinahua Women in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.