CHANGING ROLES OF ST-LAWRENCE ISLAND WOMEN - CLANSWOMEN IN THE PUBLICSPHERE

Gender roles in the Yupik community of Gambell (Sivuqaq) on St, Lawren ce Island, Alaska, continue to depend on traditional views of male and female participation in the local subsistence economy and on the patr ilineal kinship system on which subsistence activities are premised. R egardless of the essentially conservative apprehension of these roles, St. Lawrence Island women now enter the marketplace and the political arena with increasing frequency Women serve both as elected public of ficials and as skilled wage workers in their communities. In this pape r, I describe the general configuration of contemporary socioeconomic life and examine the apparent disparity between gender roles as concei ved and understood within the constraints of ''traditional'' values an d the substantial participation by women in modern economic and politi cal life. Particular focus is placed on changing values and ideology.