Women in the Marshall Islands are women who live in or are from the Republic of the Marshall Islands, an island country that is politically a presidential republic in free association with the United States. Alternative appellations for these women are Marshallese women, Marshall Islander women, Marshalls women, and women in Rālik-Ratak (literally women "facing toward the windward" [i.e. facing sunrise] and "facing toward the leeward" [i.e. facing sunset]).
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Arts and crafts
Marshallese women are known to create "finely-woven pandanus" and art made from coconut fiber.
Social status
The society of the Marshall Islands primarily has a social structure that is matrilineal. This means that women are own "a great deal of power" because they predominate in making decisions "behind-the-scenes" even though men are seen as the "public performers".
In the past, Marshall islander women who belong to the upper class are commonly distinguished by wearing "intricate tattoos", and were spoken to using "restricted speech genres" and "speaking styles". At present, modern-day women in the Marshall Islands may wear "American-style dress modified it to local norms" where the emerging elite may wear "costly dress and personal adornment".
Social welfare
There are social welfare programs for women, particularly in urban areas, that had been supported by the United States, by religious groups and by other nations belonging to the Pacific Rim region since the 1960s.