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Maldives Social Structure
Maldives was a caste society well into the 1920s.
Modernization efforts however, have helped make Maldives
more
homogeneous in the early 1990s. Traditionally, a
significant gap
has existed between the elite living on Male and the
remainder of
the population inhabiting the outer islands--those atolls
distant
from Male. President Gayoom's development philosophy has
centered
on decreasing this gap by raising the standard of living
among
the 75 percent of Maldivians who live in the outer atolls
as well
as making Maldives more self-sufficient. Fortunately,
social
tensions that might have affected these two distinct
societies
were lessened by the isolation of the outer islands. The
geographical advantage of having many islands, for
example, has
enabled Maldives to limit the impact of tourism to special
resorts.
Male, the traditional seat of the sultans and of the
nobility, remains an elite society wielding political and
economic power. Members of the several traditionally
privileged
ruling families; government, business, and religious
leaders;
professionals; and scholars are found there. Male differs
from
other island communities also because as many as 40
percent of
its residents are migrants.
The island communities outside Male are in most cases
selfcontained economic units, drawing meager sustenance from
the sea
around them. Islanders are in many instances interrelated
by
marriage and form a small, tightly knit group whose main
economic
pursuit is fishing. Apart from the heads of individual
households, local influence is exerted by the government
appointed island khatib, or chief. Regional control
over
each atoll is administered by the atolu verin, or
atoll
chief, and by the gazi, or community religious
leader.
Boat owners, as employers, also dominate the local economy
and,
in many cases, provide an informal, but effective, link to
Male's
power structure.
The family is the basic unit of society. Roughly 80
percent
of Maldivian households consist of a single nuclear family
composed of a married couple and their children rather
than an
extended family. Typically, unmarried adults remain with
relatives instead of living alone or with strangers. The
man is
usually the head of the family household, and descent is
patrilineal. Women do not accept their husbands' names
after
marriage but maintain their maiden names. Inheritance of
property
is through both males and females.
As Muslims, men may have as many as four wives, but
there is
little evidence to suggest that many have more than one.
Islamic
law, as practiced in Maldives, makes divorce easy for men
and
women. Divorce rates are among the highest in the world.
According to the 1977 census, nearly half the women over
the age
of thirty had been married four times or more. Half of all
women
marry by the age of fifteen. About 60 percent of men marry
at age
twenty or later.
The status of women has traditionally been fairly high,
as
attested to in part by the existence of four sultanas.
Women do
not veil, nor are they strictly secluded, but special
sections
are reserved for women in public places, such as stadiums
and
mosques.
Data as of August 1994
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