Editing Matrilineality (section)

==== Sri Lanka ====
{{Further|India}}
Matriliny among the [[Muslims]] and [[Tamils]] in the Eastern Province of [[Sri Lanka]] arrived from [[Kerala]], India via Muslim traders before 1200 CE.<ref>Ruwanpura, Kanchana N. (2006). ''Matrilineal Communities, Patriarchal Realities: A Feminist Nirvana Uncovered''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, paperback ({{ISBN|978-0-472-06977-4}})(fieldwork in 1998–'99 during the [[Sri Lankan civil war]], per p. 45); see p. 51.</ref><ref>This page 51 of the Ruwanpura book is accessible online via Google Books (books.google.com). The book's TOC and pages 1–11 and 50–62 are currently accessible.</ref><ref>[[Dennis B. McGilvray|McGilvray, Dennis B.]] (1989). "Households in Akkaraipattu: Dowry and Domestic Organization among Matrilineal Tamils and Moors of Sri Lanka," in J. N. Gray and D. J. Mearns (eds.) ''Society From the Inside Out: Anthropological Perspectives on the South Asian Household'', pp. 192–235. London: Sage Publications.</ref> Matriliny here includes [[kinship]] and social organization, inheritance and property rights.<ref>Humphries, Jane (1993). "Gender Inequality and Economic Development," in Dieter Bos (ed) ''Economics in a Changing World, Volume 3: Public Policy and Economic Organization.'' New York: St. Martin's Press; pp. 218–33.</ref><ref name=Agarwal1996 /><ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 1. Accessible online as above.</ref> For example, "the mother's [[dowry]] property and/or house is passed on to the eldest daughter."<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 53. Accessible online as above.</ref><ref>McGilvray, 1989, pp. 201–2.</ref> The [[Sinhalese people]] are the third ethnic group in eastern Sri Lanka,<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, pp. 3–4(accessible online as above) and p. 39.</ref> and have a kinship system which is "intermediate" between that of matriliny and that of [[patriliny]],<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 72.</ref><ref>Yalman, Nur (1971). ''Under the Bo Tree: Studies in Caste, Kinship, and Marriage in the Interior of Ceylon.'' Berkeley: University of California Press.</ref> along with "bilateral inheritance", intermediate between matrilineal and patrilineal inheritance.<ref name=Agarwal1996 /><ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 71.</ref> While the first two groups speak the [[Tamil language]], the third group speaks the [[Sinhala language]]. The Tamils largely identify with [[Hinduism]], the Sinhalese being primarily [[Buddhist]].<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, pp. 3–4. Accessible online as above.</ref> The three groups are about equal in population size.<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 39.</ref>
 	
[[Patriarchal]] social structures apply to all of Sri Lanka, but in the [[Eastern Province, Sri Lanka|Eastern Province]] are mixed with the matrilineal features summarized in the paragraph above and described more completely in the following subsection:

According to Kanchana N. Ruwanpura, [[Eastern Province, Sri Lanka|Eastern Sri Lanka]] "is highly regarded even among" [[Feminist economics|feminist economists]] "for the relatively favourable position of its women, reflected" in women's equal achievements in [[Human Development Index|Human Development Indices]] "(HDIs) as well as matrilineal and" [[bilateral descent|bilateral]] "inheritance patterns and property rights".<ref>Ruwanpura, (2006), p.1. Accessible online as above.</ref><ref>Humphries, 1993, p. 228.</ref>
She also conversely argues that "''feminist economists'' need to be cautious in applauding Sri Lanka's gender-based achievements and/or matrilineal communities",<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 3. Accessible online as above.</ref> because these matrilineal communities coexist with "''patriarchal'' structures and ideologies" and the two "can be strange but ultimately compatible bedfellows",<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 10 and see p. 6 ("prevalence of patriarchal structures and ideologies"). Accessible online as above.</ref> as follows:

She "positions Sri Lankan women within gradations of ''patriarchy'' by beginning with a brief overview of the main religious traditions," [[Buddhism]], [[Hinduism]], and [[Islam]], "and the ways in which patriarchal interests are promoted through religious practice" in Eastern Sri Lanka (but without being as repressive as classical patriarchy).<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, pp.&nbsp;4–5. Accessible online as above.</ref> Thus, "feminists have claimed that Sri Lankan women are relatively well positioned in the" [[South Asian]] region,<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 4. Accessible online as above.</ref><ref name=Agarwal1996>Agarwal, Bina (1996). ''A Field of One's Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia.'' New Delhi: Cambridge University Press. (First edition was 1994.)</ref> despite "patriarchal institutional laws that ... are likely to work against the interests of women," which is a "co-operative conflict" between women and these laws.<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 182.</ref> (Clearly "female-heads have no legal recourse" from these laws which state "patriarchal interests".)<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 182 (both quotations).</ref> For example, "the economic welfare of female-heads [heads of households] depends upon networks" ("of kin and [matrilineal] community"), "networks that mediate the patriarchal-ideological nexus."<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, pp.&nbsp;145–146.</ref> She wrote that "some female heads possessed" "feminist consciousness"<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p.&nbsp;142 (both quotations).</ref>{{Efn|Feminist [[consciousness raising]], a means of raising awareness of a feminist perspective or subject}} and, at the same time, that "in many cases female-heads are not vociferous feminists&nbsp;... but rather 'victims' of patriarchal relations and structures that place them in precarious positions.... [while] they have held their ground&nbsp;... [and] provided for their children".<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p.&nbsp;37.</ref>

On the other hand, she also wrote that feminists including [[Malathi de Alwis]] and [[Kumari Jayawardena]] have criticized a romanticized view of women's lives in Sri Lanka put forward by Yalman, and mentioned the Sri Lankan case "where young women raped (usually by a man) are married-off/required to cohabit with the rapists!"<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p.&nbsp;76 n.&nbsp;7.</ref>