ABSTRACT
From the vantage point of the anthropologist we have been able in the preceding chapters to follow the life of a woman from birth to marriage, during which she has passed from the more or less untrammelled freedom and irresponsibility of childhood to a growing sense of tribal values and their relevance to her: to the gradual assumption of adult status: and finally, to a union which brings her economic, sexual, and social satisfaction. As a wife she claims certain privileges; as an individual, her personality may be said to take on a greater complexity by reason of the extension of her activities, her handling of human relationships, the adjustments they require of her and her appreciation of her own importance. We have till now directed our telescope upon those constellations in the community which in the main represent the paramount influences in her existence. These are the groups constituted by kindred, her affinal relatives, and lastly her husband and her children. These constellations of relationship, however, are not her universe: they are the points of radiation for interests in other directions. The situations which we have taken also revealed large groupings as impinging on her freedom, deflecting or reinforcing a decision, and voicing approval or disapprobation of her actions. If we are to make as complete a study as possible of the position of a woman in aboriginal culture then it is necessary to analyse her functions as a member of these groups-the economic, kinship, and political organization, the horde and the tribe. Do these wider groupings conflict with her immediate family ties: do they demand the fulfilment of other obligations: do they impose or create other loyalties, and what part they play in her daily life?
