BEYOND THE DOMESTIC/PUBLIC DICHOTOMY : PROBLEMS AND NEW DIRECTIONS

Abstract

In the theoretical overview of the book Woman. Culture, and Society (Rosaldo & Lamphere 1 974), Rosaldo accounted for the difference between the sexes in terms of this dichotomy by stating that there is a world-wide asymmetry of gender-identified activities: women's activities tended to be undervalued compared to those of their sexual counterpart and men were recognized as having culturally legitimated authority over women. By her definition, "domestic" meant "those minimal institutions and modes of activity that are organized immediately around one or more mothers and their children," and the "public" referred to "activities, institutions, and forms of association that link, rank, organize, or subsume particular mother-chi]d groups" (Rosaldo 1974: 23). She hypothesized that women are primarily involved in "domestic" relations and activities, while men are free to form broader associations in the public domain. Women are bound to the "enduring, timeconsuming and emotionally-compelling" commitment as exemplified in a mother's relation with her infant child, whereas men can keep their distance from the "messiness" of domestic life, and engage themselves in the hierarchical, political world. Based on her presumption that the "domestic" is subsumed under the "public" and hence the inhabitants of the "domestic" are subject to the authority of the inhabitants of the "public," Rosaldo concludes that the confinement of women to the domestic sphere and men's involvement in the public world accounted for the greater share of power and authority for men.