'Daughters Too Are Our Children.' Gender Relations and Inheritance in Njegusi

Abstract

The stereotypes of Montenegrin gender relations depict men doing war and women constrained to lead extremely hard lives consisting of reproduction and domestic work. In this study with a focus on Njeguši, the author instead demonstrates how gender relations are characterised by a dynamic process which defies attempts to present a one-dimensional picture. For example, the widespread tradition that sons inherit, to the exclusion of daughters, proves to be linked to the much less problematised principle of virilocal marriages, with the consequence that women are strongly encouraged to leave family property, while men are morally bound to stay on it. The reverse condition is that women are able to enjoy freedom of movement while men have difficulty finding spouses, and once married many of them live apart from their wives. The author also addresses the business of 'importing' brides as well as the phenomenon of brother-and-sister households.