East Timor Society is actually a blend of different culture and religion. From the early days, many other countries invaded in this small piece of land and when they left, there remained some influences of their culture and religion. These remains play a pivotal role in the formation of East Timor Society. The society here in Timor Leste is male dominated. This is not something unusual but there is something more interesting. Though it is a male dominated society, in some remote corners of East Timor, women are economically independent and the main earning member of the family.
Most of the East Timorese were mainly farmers earlier. The rest were fishermen. They kept themselves isolated from the outer world and were far away from the foreign influences. They were happy with their own culture and society and in spite of the hard work of the Catholic missionaries, they rarely reciprocated. The Catholicism was brought by the Portuguese. People like Bishop Manuel de Santo Antonio, Bishop Antonio de Castro and Friar Antonio Taveira are chiefly responsible for spreading the Catholicism in Timor Leste. But the Timorese king was still the only person the East Timorese trusted. The mountains at the heart of the country help them a lot to stay isolated.
The position of women in East Timor Society is an important aspect of the country’s culture. In the patriarchal social structure, in some places of Timor Leste women have experienced the taste of economic independence. They not just earn their own bread and butter, they often play the role of chief earning member of the family. This change of baton actually shows that the social structure in Timor Leste is gradually changing.
East Timor Traditions