The times, they are a-changing...
The Okinawan society is traditionally terribly gendered, but ALSO absolutely not conservatist on this point. A few years ago, a female middle schooler entered my community Youth Association and said "I want to play the drums in the eisa group". She was told "But that's for boys ?". She said "I don't care". She's now playing the drums in the eisa group, and other female dancers joined as well. The eisa group of the neighbouring community has several male hand dancers (generally female dancers) and there is a female hatagashira in the flag pole group as well.
A few years ago too, a high school in Naha was in the newspapers for allowing students to wear skirts or trousers regardless of their gender. Many other highschools modified their rules accordingly and I thought that was nice, but a middle schooler of my neighbourhood told me that was quite stupid, female students had been wearing trousers for years at her school, it was just not in the rules...
The other day in Naha, I saw a man with hajichi tatoos (traditionally female hand tatoos).
The Okinawan society is extremely protective of its traditions, just, the "we can't change that because it has always been done this way" rule does not apply to gender boundaries.#沖縄 #Okinawa