Inequalities In Hunter-Gatherer Societies

This article from “The Real Truth about the Female” by Barbara Ehrenreich targets many beliefs that women were underestimated. The main theory suggested in this document is that, women had to follow the traditional duties. Early theories are being questioned as a result to women proving many things over the years that were often overlooked. Ehrenreich states in his article, “it does strongly suggest that in the Stone Age family, Dad-the-hunter was not the only provider.” There is a great amount of evidence that suggest the theory that women worked as hard as men. Adrienne Zihlman and Nancy Tanner stated “among surviving “hunting” peoples, most of the community’s calories—up to 70%—come from plant food patiently gathered by women.” This fact

The idea that men were stronger began during the hunting-gathering time, since men mostly went out hunting, while women stayed nearby by the house to care for children and gather plants. Biological factors made women more vulnerable at the time which only added onto the idea that women were less than their male counterparts. Men, considering they were not tied to their homes because of pregnancy, or the duties of a housewife, had more time to gain wealth and property through “pillage and force”, making them known as the more powerful figure in society (Richards and Saba).

Our world has been a male dominated society from the beginning of time. In most cultures, especially in ancient times, women were thought of as secondary to their male counterparts. Women were considered a possession just as a house or piece of property is considered a possession. The role of women in these early societies did not receive an education but was to take care of the household and have children. The women of the Minoan and Mycenaean ancient Greece cultures held much more roles than homemakers and mothers; they were allowed more freedoms and rights also oracles, priestesses, and political advisors yet they are also seen by men as nothing more than a mere possession.

The economic, social, and religious roles of women changed between the Paleolithic and Neolithic time periods. During the Paleolithic Age, women and men had equal position in society. They both helped in the raising of children and the act of obtaining food for their families. The role of women would soon change for the worse in the Neolithic time period. They were left with little social, economic, and religious status, and the large burden of raising children almost singlehandedly.

To begin with, women were considered equal but separate to men in the workforce, containing their own political meetings and having a large influence within the commerce of crops within each village. “Ibo women still wielded considerable influence both within their marriages and within the larger community. Women, for example, were a major force in the society's agrarian economy: they planted their own crops, sold their crop surplus (as well as that of their husbands), and exerted exclusive control over the operation and management

Some aspects of the lifestyle ancient civilizations lived almost seem appalling or intolerable when compared to the very developed and carefully shaped the world inhabited today. One of these characteristics of previous societies that prove to be rather challenging to conceive in current times consists of the lack of rights, privileges, and equity women had. Society maintained this assumption of a man’s superiority up until the women’s rights movement of the early twentieth century; yet with the two sexes essentially equal in America today, imagining a restricted life as a female proves unfathomable. Looking back at the history of human kind, men almost always subdued women and treated them as property. When focusing on the first

An example of gender inequality of men can be observed in the culture of the Persians, which had assisted them in upholding their massive empire. For instance, as mentioned in The Histories: Customs of the Persian, it says in terms of being brace in battle a guy is measure in his manliness through the number of sons he presents, and each year the king gifts to the man who does such. They school their sons from the age of five to twenty in mainly three things: horseback riding, archery, and telling the truth. The boy does face their father until the age of five. This is done so if he dies while growing up he won’t cause grief to his father. These features of the Persians had played a significant role of how they acquired a large kingdom which can be seen in The Persian Empire Under Darius I’s Map (pg.67). This tactic of using men for their advantage in gaining imperial power had deprived them of their chance to take part in other interests

Women have always had the short end of the stick, whether it was with voting, home life, or working. They were never shown the respect that they deserved or earned. They worked hard and were never repaid for their work. In the early colonial period, women were treated differently based off their wealth and religion, and after men started making laws, they gained nothing. Women went from having an unspecified class status in the early colonial period to second class status by the early republic era because men wrote the laws.

Unfortunately, the sharp instincts and intelligences of these early women in a way became their downfall, for many historians and archeologists accredit women with the discovery of farming. It is their belief that, while gathering foods for their tribes, women realized the connection between leaving seeds in the ground and the growth of plants. For a while these simple methods of farming were carried out by women, however, as more advancements were made in agriculture it was realized that farming could no longer be performed solely by women, as it demanded large amounts of strength that a woman wasn’t physically capable of. In addition, farming demanded large amounts of time so it began to become an expectation that a woman would remain home and take care of the house and children while her husband worked out in the fields. (Ellis 9) In his article “The Worst Mistake Made in History,” Jared Diamond discusses how women were no longer able to work as effectively, as it was expected of them to have more children, so their bodies as well as health became weakened. (Diamond 65) John R. Lukacs makes comparable discussions to Diamond, in his article, “Fertility and Agriculture Accentuate Sex Differences in Dental Caries Rates,” saying that women suffered from even greater health problems than their male counterparts and as a result the numbers of women in society were reduced. (Lukacs 901) It was

The hunter-gatherer society had been around for thousands of years. In this type of environment the men are known to be the hunters and the women are the gatherers. In many cases this saying could be argued, but the actions of the two genders prove to be very different. This can be in todays world in simple activities such as shopping. Men and women differ in shopping by how they shop, why they stop, and what the stop for.

Women's lives, roles, and statuses changed over various early world history eras and culture areas in many ways. Ancient Persia, Paleolithic, Athens, Mesopotamian and Roman eras were all different in very unique ways. The Paleolithic era treated women fairly and were treated equally. During the Neolithic era women were not treated fairly. She was the daughter of her father or the wife of her husband. Women rarely acted as individuals outside the context of their families. Those who did so were usually royalty or the wives of men who had power and status.” (oi.uchicago.edu, 2010) Athenian women were not treated fairly

Amongst societies, there is a great variety of means of survival, all of which are dependent upon factors influencing the community—geographical location and structure of authority, to name a few. Such factors and the community’s ways of survival create the underlying basis of other complex issues, including the relationship between the sexes. Many anthropological papers that concentrate on the modes of production of specific groups of people have shown a connection between the modes of production and the presence or absence of gender inequality. Futhermore, there is also evidence of a further causality between the two: as a society adopts a more complex mode of

Throughout much of history, women have been viewed as inferior to men. In the 1800s and early 1900s, women were not allowed to hold the same jobs or

Though not much is known about pre-historic man or woman, I have to guess that the struggle to stay alive alone must have taken all of early man’s time both day and night. Based on this thought, it is hard for me to imagine how roles outside the main task of staying alive would have been divided by gender. Women and men both probably foraged for edible foods and probably hunted together in pairs I would guess. Since groups were small I imagine roles were shared equally. As the groups became larger, more organized and more advanced in agriculture, gender roles probably became more prominent. In early times, a woman’s primary role became childbearing and keeping the home environment, whether it be in a cave, mud hut or other structure.

Social inequality began with the emergence of horticulture and pastoral societies. For the first time people had reliable sources of food and the