Age, Gender, and the Demographic Transition: The Life Course in Agrarian Societies

Abstract

The discussion examines changes in factors affecting the life course in 2 rural settings in the 3rd world. Initially it was proposed that agrarian societies before the demographic transition have much in common concerning the ways in which age and gender are culturally prganized. The examination shows diversity in both cultural background and the profile of socio-demographic changes. While rural Kenyans and rural Mexicans experience some of the same social forces and respond in some of the same ways their experience of demographic transition has differed. The death rates of both societies have dropped prrcipitously in recent decades but only in Mexico has there been a decline in the birthrate and a substantial migration to the city -- 2 trends that are closely related since fertility in rural Mexico remains high. Despite the growth of commerce and education Kenya continues as a relatively unstratified agrarian country where all but a small proportion of the population lives in the rural areas of migrates temporarily to work in the city. Fertility there is not differentiated by residence or socioeconomic status. Mexican society was more stratified and urbanized to begin with and has become moreso with recent industrial development. There reduced fertility is strongly correlated with urban residence education and income. Kenya and Mexico typify the contrasting directions of change in the poor and middle level developing countries respectively. Regarding the life course in these 2 settings first gender distinctions are publicly marked and connected with reproductive roles in the rural communities of both countries. The militant protection of women by male family members is part of the historic traditions of both cultures but gender roles and symbolism take different forms with differing consequences for life experience. A striking contrast is the relativve confinement of Mexican girls and young women to locations near home and the relative freedom of their Gusii counterparts in Kenya. In both communities a cultural system of age grading and a code of filial loyalty provided hope for parents of both genders that their later years would bring them community respect and support from their children. While economic and demographic changes have undermined these fragile structures in both countrie the disorder is more apparent in rural Kenya in part because virtually all families are primarily located in the rural areas. There is no doubt that interpersonal ties in general and kinship (both real and fictive) in particular remain salient in the social identities of villagers in both settings the Mexicans have well institutionalized complementarities between the spheres of economic kin and community relationships which permit them to function more coherently under the variable conditions of change.