The Flaming Womb, Book Review Example

Southeast Asia has been regarded by historians, anthropologists, and other observers as a region with notable equality between the sexes due to both the cultural beliefs in the region in addition to the influence of colonialism after 1890. It is important to note that although southeast Asia is the home to over 550 million people from several different countries including Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines, and Malaysia, the cultures of these regions have been historically viewed as similar compared to the cultural values adapted by the people of East and South Asia. The cultural values that denote a sense of equality between the sexes include kinship being traced through both maternal and paternal lines, the decreased burden of raising a daughter due to the practice of “bride price”, married couples typically live with the wife’s parents, women played important roles in religious ceremonies, and women were usually allowed to labor in fields and work in the market. Overtime however, the idea exchange between this region and other parts of Asia have led to a decrease in the levels of freedom that women experienced. However, European colonialism later helped recreate some of these concepts and many Southeast Asians readapted their former cultural values after this intervention.

One of the major causes of the decrease in women’s power was the spread of religious values to Southeast Asia from other parts of the continent including Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. This spread of ideas eventually led to an integration of religion and state law, which eventually led to the decrease in rights that women were allowed. These restrictions included the inability to participate as religious leaders, the requirement of staying at home and acting primarily as a mother and wife, and a lack of sexual freedom. Despite this however, Andaya emphasizes that kinship ties through the mother remained a common practice and as a consequence equality between men and women remained much greater in Southeast Asia compared to other regions of the continent.

Ultimately, Andaya demonstrates that Southeast Asia is a porous region due to the cultural diversity and religious values held by so many people in such a small space. In addition, she did manage to exemplify how Southeast Asia has greater religious equality than the other regions considered; this is mostly due to the unique cultural and historical values of Southeast Asia in which women used to hold dominant roles in society. Even though women are given fewer rights in this region then they were previously, these cultures still respect their origins and continue many of the practices that boosted the position of women within their societies. It is important to further consider Andaya’s belief that Southeast Asia is a “porous region” because the influence of world religions in Southeast Asia has made women’s lives more restricted and their social positions more inferior to men’s. The religions that are now dominant in this region, including Confucianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity all have unique ideas about the proper roles for women and individual governments within Southeast Asia have preferentially adapted these values into law. Andaya claims that the main reason that these governments caused women to become more restricted was due to the fact that this led to the growth of centralized states who wanted to exercise more control over their subjects. The economy, specific country, government adapted, and religion made Southeast Asia more porous overtime. Although this region was historically similar, we can expect that the different religious and social values held by each country will cause them to greatly differentiate in the future.