Speaking about Balinese women, we will speak about endurance, patience, love and care and of course, hard workers. The women do all the work while men go to tajen (cockfighting) is the image of Balinese society seen by the outsider and there is some truth in it. The cockfighting is seldom held nowadays maybe once in a month or two, but the Balinese women are still a hard worker.

Balinese women are independent women, tough and hard working. The household duties that are entrusted to the women are exhausting and need a lot of patience such as taking care of the households, preparing the religious offering, taking care of the children, managing the budgets and working in the rice field or office.

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Most of the traditional Gamelans were always staffed by men. Not any more ! The Puri Saraswati has access to a women’s group and a children’s group. For our 40^th Anniversary, we had the music from the Women’s group and the dancers from the children’s group. WOW! The child dancers were dressed as rabbits ( really cute ). This combination was perfect for a daytime wedding, in Ubud.

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The balinese, especially those who follow the Hindu religion, are a unique people. There uniqueness is event more apparent when it is adapted to the lifestyle of the third millennium. As a krama, or as a member of a village attending a traditional meeting in the village, a Balinese can appear ‘nyaput’, wearing their traditional costume, even is just previously, they may have been in a meeting business partner, wearing neck-ties and suit in an exlusive hotel. It is also normal for a supple, beautiful Balinese girl, who dances at the banjar or at the temple, or even in a hotel could have been panting the wall of the building, or selling marchandise at the market in sweatpants, that same afternoon.

From examples like these, it may seem as if the people of Bali live with two diferent personalities. But, in reality, they look at this as a way a carrying out there daily life, or as an effort in cultivating their karma. Tingkah manut swadarma, or conduct according to one’s position, is a teaching that is held strongly by most Balinese in carrying out there karma. Because of this, it is very possible that a girl who works as a shopkeeper, whose existence is nothing significant amongst the crowd in te market, may be the centre of attention as a dancer of the Rejang at the time of worship in a ritual held at the temple.

If we observe further, we will see that the conduct mentioned above are made possible by the order structureof the society of the Bali Hindu. It is not only adhering to the heritage from majapahit, but the unique customs of each area, wich characterize the organizationof society in Bali. It is because of this that we are able to see difference in the organizations from village to village, event if they are placed in the same basic framework of the traditional village