ABSTRACT
This chapter examines conflicts inherent in the articulation and interaction of two institutions in an Andean community. The sex hierarchy ascribes men a superordinate status, translated as "natural" superiority to women and masculine dominance in the domestic sphere. In some traditional Andean communities, wife-beating is a tacitly accepted outlet for male frustration and hostility. In towns and villages of rural Ecuador, younger men generally figure in reports of wife-beating, and one hears of it infrequently among older couples. If a man feels his domestic authority compromised in some manner, the reaction of other men and his reading of his gender role can lead him to beat his wife in the attempt to redeem his status among his peers. The chapter provides list of masculine and feminine traits collected from a sample of mestizo informants in Las Flores displays the semantic contours of gender ideals.
