440
2S.21 Dominance of mother in the home
S
It was hypothesized that the mother would be seen as ’making
the rules’ in the Aboriginal household.
25.21Cii) TABLE 47
Comparison of Aboriginal views with regard to the role of the
mother in .the society of Aborigines, Aboriginal self, Australians
Item 7
Mother makes
rules
mid-point
ft.
Item 28
Father makes
rules
%
Aboriginal response
Aborigines in general (N=95)
Aboriginal self (N=51)
Australians (N=93)
22.8 46.7. 30.4
28.0 46.0 26.0
23.3 39.4 ' 37.3
25.21 Ciii) Discussion
The notion of a female dominated society Citem 7) was not supported
for Aborigines in general. Most support came at the mid-point.
There was some support for the view that the father made the rules
in the household. For the Aboriginal self there was about equal
support for father and mother making rules, with strongest support
at the mid-point. On this issue, Aboriginal people saw Australians either
at the mid-point or with the father dominant,
∙≡l
This Aboriginal view can be compared with non-Aboriginal
views.