傳統卑南族的親族結構是建立在母系社會，女性在社會中扮演著主導的地位，這是許多研究所著重的。但卑南族男性有著嚴密的年齡組織、會所制度，也是值得關注的議題。本文從歲時祭儀與性別角色之觀察，不同祭儀的主要執行者在性別上有區別，但無論男性或女性在任何祭儀都有著必要的功能與任務。從歲時祭儀時序觀察，男女角色的階序，在收穫祭與年祭時產生角色轉換現象，例如在收穫祭之前是一系列以小米為主的農耕祭儀為核心、以女性為主要儀式執行者；完成收穫祭後，男性少年階級入駐少年會所、以男性為主的年齡階級訓練開始。雖然從儀式的執行來看，男女是主從角色的關係，但從整個歲時祭儀運作時序觀察，性別角色是互補、互助的關係，是不斷地循環的概念。在儀式歌謠方面，也是以年祭與收穫祭為轉換點，可以清楚區分為女性與男性兩性別角色在各自專屬儀式歌謠的體系，若以時序運作的角度，則可以看到整個儀式歌謠在歲時祭儀中生生不息地循環著。因此本文試圖從性別角色的觀點去探討卑南族下賓朗部落歲時祭儀中，不同性別的角色任務、社會功能、儀式與性別的象徵意涵、儀式歌謠在性別上區分的功能與意義等面向。

Matriarchal society of the Puyuma people endows upon women a dominant position in kinship, family, and rituals. Nevertheless, many studies have shown that within the traditional Puyuma culture, men still take on important roles. The Puyuma men have to follow a rigid Age System and receive educational and military training (e.g. takuvan) at different stages, which signify their maturing into adulthood. The different roles of the two genders and how they cooperate and complement each other in rituals are issues to be investigated in this paper.
Observing the gender roles in rituals and the ceremonial songs, the author finds that there is a distinction in the parts assigned to men and women but both male and female carry out tasks and missions and are thus both essential. Take the rite of procreation as an example; we can observe an exchange of dominant roles between the two sexes. In the rituals before Harvest rite, including tematu’us, misahur, and muhamut which are related the production of millet, the main performers are women because they shoulder the responsibility of farming; while those after the harvest, the rites focus on the passage from childhood to manhood by entering takuvan to begin their training. Related rites like muvasiva, and mangayaw are mainly performed by men to enact the maturation procedure as they take on the responsibility to protect their homes and declare their territories. From the point of view of performers in certain rituals, it seems that women assume dominant roles while men play secondary parts. Nonetheless, when we examine the rituals of the whole year, we find that the two sexes complement and support each others in cyclical turns. Ceremonial songs operate in similar manner with the rituals of New Year and that of the Harvest serving as the juncture when the hierarchy of gender roles is shifted. Whereas songs are sung exclusively by women in rituals during the period between New Year Ritual and Harvest Ritual, like misahur and muhamud; songs, like pai’ira’iraware, by men in rituals during the period between Harvest Ritual and New Year Ritual, including takuvan, muvasiva, and mangayaw. The cycle of ritual is symbolic of the cycle of life, which is to be celebrated through chants annually.
Based upon a field research conducted from 2009 to 2014, this study investigates the gender roles of Puyumas people at Pinaski of Taiwan in the annual rituals by discussing the purposes, missions, social functions, symbolic meanings and the gender-specific implications in ceremonial songs.