Male and Female Space Within the Provençal Community

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Male Space within the Provençal Community: Important Points
Female Space within the Provençal Community: Important Points
Difficult Concepts
Male and Female Spaces in My Community
Conclusion

Introduction

The article under consideration, Male Space and Female Space within the Provençal Community by Lucienne Roubin discusses gender segregation in the Provençal village. Roubin begins with characterizing the community in general emphasizing the distinction between male and female spaces. The ambrette club existing within this community is a concept that exemplifies this distinction: “The ambrette club is a constant and concrete indication of the existence of male society [that] emphasizes the distance separating it from female society” (Roubin 153). This is not the only aspect of the Provençal community that the article discusses; the author also mentions certain village festivals, celebrations, rituals, and traditions. However, male and female spaces remain the primary focus of the article. With ‘ambrette remaining one of the most difficult and important concepts throughout the article, Roubin’s piece of writing considers such important points of the Provençal Community’s male space as the presence of the wine cellars and the village square as the heart of the male space and such important points of the female space as guardianship and fragmentation of the female society.

Male Space within the Provençal Community: Important Points

To begin with, the male space in the community under analysis can be characterized by the absolute separation from the female one. Roubin starts by mentioning that wine cellars serve as a mark of the male world; they should be constructed in every place linked to the male world. Wine cellars are used not only for the festival days; they are a place where men can have rest and enjoy pleasant conversations: “Cool in summer and comfortable in winter, the wine cellars have always been and remain today a retreat where men frequently meet their friends” (Roubin 153). During the winter months evening meetings are held there; moreover, they are often used as a refuge for the male brotherhoods. Therefore, males within the Provençal Community have a separate space that women are not allowed to enter.

Another important characteristic of the male space is the village square which, together with its appendages, serves as a heart of the male society. Once this place served for different male celebrations; for the time when the article was written, 1977, the square was a place where men could exchange news, but, again, with no interference of women: “The women pass by, coming and going as they do their work, crossing the square and warming themselves in the sun in small groups along its periphery, but they do not stop long to chat unless it is market day” (Roubin 154). Despite all these restrictions for women, Roubin still stresses that none of the areas, male or female, is regarded as subordinate though the domain of women has narrower spatial limits than that of men.

Female Space within the Provençal Community: Important Points

Roubin offers certain explanations as to why women had such narrow spatial limits by discussing such aspects of the female space as guardianship and female society fragmentation. First of all, women are exposed to the guardianship on the part of the male members of the family from their childhood: “First there is the guardianship of the father during childhood and adolescence, continued during a woman’s young adulthood by the guardianship of the family’s oldest son” (Roubin 156). When the girl gets married, she is exposed to new guardianship, that of her husband. This being the reason, female rights and freedoms are limited, so is the woman’s role in society.

Another important point regarding the female space within the Provençal Community is the fragmentation of the female group. Unlike the males, Provençal women do not have special associations where they can meet, though the author mentions female ‘veillées’ that take place each winter (but these are rather short). The most interesting fact is that there has always existed certain hierarchy within the females, especially in the church: “Each woman occupied a specific space in certain row of benches; these seats were passed on from generation to generation like any other item included in patrimony” (Roubin 158). The only sphere to which the female space extends instead of being limited is the domestic area under which the males have practically no control. Thus, female space in the Provençal Community is rather limited due to guardianship which women are exposed to and certain fragmentation of the female society.

Difficult Concepts

One of the most difficult concepts in the article under analysis is ‘ambrette-club’. The author mentioned at the beginning that such clubs served as a symbol of the male space. Those were the places where men gathered for their male conversations. The thing that remained unclear was the function of these clubs. What were they for if the males already had several places to gather without women? However, after identifying the males’ role in the domestic area, it became evident that the ambrette clubs were a place where the men could escape from their inaction and uselessness in the domestic sphere. For any man, these clubs were “the meeting place where he feels at home, within that male society from which all participants derive a feeling of unity and cohesion” (Roubin 159). Thus, ‘ambrette club’ was the only difficult concept in Roubin’s article.

Male and Female Spaces in My Community

Male and female spaces in my community, Saudi Arabia, remind those of the Provençal Community. Moreover, there is one common concept as well; this concept is guardianship. In my community, women are under the guardianship of men throughout their lives: in childhood, male members of the family are responsible for a female, and, once she is married, the husband is her main guardian. My community can also be characterized by segregation. There are several places (such as cafés) that women are not allowed to enter. However, exclusively female public spaces that the males are not allowed to visit also exist. Though the number of such spaces for women is increasing, the barriers that separate male and female spaces do not get any weaker. Therefore, just like in the case with the Provençal Community, segregation is a characteristic feature of my community as well.

Conclusion

In sum, Roubin’s article considers several important issues relevant to male and female spaces in the Provençal Community. Among the most remarkable ones as for the male space, there are such characteristics as wine cellars that signified the male world and the village square that was the heart of this world. Discussing the female space in the same community, such points as guardianship and female society fragmentation turned out to be the most important. The most difficult (and the most crucial at this) concept in this article was that of the ambrette clubs that were essential for the male space in the Provençal Community.

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Male and Female Space Within the Provençal Community

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