Pacific Oceanic people: 500 BCE - 1200 CE

     Composed of numerous island societies, Oceanic people differed in culture and gender roles. Separated into chiefdoms, each society had variations of centralized authority. Melanesia, for example, had designated "big men" who were influential in decision making and held authority. With a more patriarchal society, like Melanesia, women's role were subordinate to men. Women's work was heavily involved in food production. While in areas like Polynesia, women held high status and worked more with domestic materials like clothing in mats. Across Oceania, women were seen as dangerous and polluting during menstruation and would even be isolated during this time and also during child birth. This could be linked to how society views women's periods as taboo even to this day.

A modern group of Polynesian people dancing