Albania's sworn virgins

Fascinating article in the New York Times today about the Albanian "sworn virgin" tradition. According to Albanian custom, if the "patriarch" of a family dies without leaving a male heir, an unmarried (ie virginal) daughter or other relative can make an oath to remain a virgin for life and assume a male identity (though usually without changing her first name) and become the "man of the house," protecting and providing for the rest of the family. They live as men and are regarded as male by the rest of society, including other men.

The tradition of the sworn virgin can be traced to the Kanun of Leke Dukagjini, a code of conduct passed on orally among the clans of northern Albania for more than 500 years. Under the Kanun, the role of a woman is severely circumscribed: take care of children and maintain the home. While a woman’s life is worth half that of a man, a virgin’s value is the same: 12 oxen.

This is interesting on a number of levels. first, it implies (or so it seems to me) that women aren't inherently less capable than men since persons who are born women can fulfill male roles within society. Moreover, a woman doesn't lose her value until she becomes sexually active and a potential mother. This is different from other patriarchal models where virginity is valued because a woman becomes "ruined" by sex, and unfit for marriage to a different man, or where extramarital sex brings shame or dishonor onto her male relatives. This 2007 Washington Post article explains,

The idea that a woman would need to forsake love and live as a man to control her own fate seems primitive to modern eyes. But perhaps, in the context of a once-upon-a-time culture, a culture before feminism, it can be seen as progressive. The existence of sworn virgins reveals a cultural belief, however inchoate, that a biological woman can do all the work of a man.

Under this paradigm, biology may not be destiny but society is built around two completely separate gender roles. A person's gender role may usually be determined by biological sex, but that can be overridden by social imperatives.