29. Elisabeth Elliot, from whom I first learned to understand gender roles as a gift rather than a curse or an embarrassment, spoke from experience with several different cultures. When she lived among the Auca Indians of Equador, after they murdered her husband and four other missionaries, she noted that the idea of the “masculine” in Auca culture included the writing of poetry and a dedication to the decorative arts. Women, as the ones responsible for the nurture of the family, oversaw the gathering of roots and berries and rudimentary agriculture.