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Summary and reflection: Bilefsky...

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“Albanian Custom Fades: Woman as Family Man,” Dan Bilefsky Note: This article illustrates the social construction of gender by describing a “third gender” that has existed historically within the Southern European country of Albania. 1) What is a “sworn virgin” (like Pashe Keqi) within Albanian culture? What gender role do they enact, and what social circumstances created the need for “sworn virgins’? a sworn virgin is a female who becomes a man in order to take care of the household in the case of all male deaths, or the absence of an heir. Women were considered to be half of a man and to have different social roles. However a virgin was equivalent to a man, so when a son was needed to avenge a death or take care of the family, one of the daughters took the oath and the position. This greatly benefited these females because now they could go about the village freely, engage in male-only activities and associate with other males in order to conduct family business. However, Albania does not need these sworn virgins anymore because the country has become more westernized and females now have the same social status as males....