Gender issues are important aspects of social science. It is through the understanding of the different issues concerning the differences in gender roles that we are able to accept the modern world role of each gender. It is therefore, quite important to develop an understanding of how the differing gender roles in the society evolved and how they have been subsequently carried on over the centuries as well as over the decades. An understanding of the role of each gender in the hunting and gatherers as well as on the agriculturally based stages of human beings evolution is an important aspect of study that enable us to understand the perception of each gender during that stage of human evolution. Additionally, it also important to establish what is the variables behind the differing gender roles and their subsequent effect on the perception as well as on the interpretation of those gender roles. This paper will therefore examine the interpretation of the role of women during the hunter-gatherer and agriculturally based stages of human society.
The differing role of women to those of men in both the hunters and gatherers as well as on the agriculturally based stages of human being evolution can be can be traced from the history of work organization in each stage. The history of work organization refers to the methods or the systems by which the society or a group of people structures its routine activities in terms of labor and roles for each gender for its survival sustainability. The organization of work is thought to have started way before the evolution of Homo sapiens. With invention of tools, human beings portrayed that they had a more complex brain structure differentiating them from other animals. Additionally, they developed a more complex and effective way of communication and hence aiding linguistic communication. It can be argued that the division of labor in relation to gender may have been responsible for the start of human conquest on nature and there-forth differentiating man for other species of animals. During the hunters and gatherers stage of human being development, work involved simple activities revolving about provision of basic human needs such as food, shelter and child bearing. A division of labor during this stage human development may have arisen when a particular gender showed or portrayed proficiency or effectiveness in particular tasks. These tasks during this prehistoric human being evolution are hunting, gathering, child keeping as well as home keeping. As a way of increasing food for the family during the hunters and gatherers stage of human evolution, human beings in this stage organized the work of hunting, gathering as well as child rearing. The organization of work during this stage bore in mind factors such sex and age.
During the hunters and gatherers stage of human being evolution, the organization of work in regard to sexual division was entirely based on physical differences that exist between the two genders. This implies that men being more masculine than the feminine gender took the harder tasks. Hunting being a hard and involving task was entirely men’s task while tasks involving gathering and child rearing requiring less energy and versatility were thought to be the duties of the women.
In this sexual division of labor within the hunters and gatherers, stage of human being development male dominated in hunting and in engaging in war or activities that that protected the community for the purpose of defense. Additionally, men were involved in offering of leadership to the society. These activities were male dominated and hence women were equally thought to be inferior to men. This is why they could not be involved in matters regarding the defense of the community as well as on issues of leadership. Their roles were those associated with feminine nature and included such activities as infant care, gathering, and home keeping. This perception of women as inferior to men leads to over dominance of the male gender within the societies that were formed by the hunters and gatherers communities. Additionally, the boy child was thought to be equal than the girl child.
The nurturing capabilities of the feminine gender or in other words the empathetic nature of women can equally be argued as to why the women were allocated the task of child bearing. It is important to note, child bearing has always been thought as the role of women. The perception that women are supposed to be the home keeper may have contributed to this form of thinking in the communities formed by human beings in the hunters and gatherers stage of human being development. Despite the place of women being thought to at the home, men in these societies were thought and regarded as the heads of the family and hence they had the power to dictate what should be done. It is important to note that both men and women had a similar role of providing food for the family. The women gathered for food such as fruits, roots as well as herbs while the men hunted to provide meat for the family. Note the similarity of the role of providing food for both genders. Though the women took care of the homes, the men were required to provide shelter for the family.
The hunters and gathering way of live was very difficult because of its uncertainty in food sustainability. To counter these uncertainties people started growing crops and domesticating animals. This led to the evolution, which is regarded as the agriculturally based stage of human being development. This too had its sexual division of labor. The organization division of labor in bases of sex was such that women were to be involved in the tillage or cultivation of land while the male were to de involved in activities of looking after the animals. During the agriculturally stage of human some of the role which were perceived to be of feminine nature could now be done by men and the vice versa. For instance, as a result of the cultivation crops and domestication of animals, there emerged other sectors of economy such as those that necessitated preservation of food and trades. These additionally, needed management, these show women taking managerial positions in some of these sectors. This implies that women started occupying some of the roles that were thought to be of male nature. For instance, women started occupying leadership positions, which were before the role of men. The perception of women changed from only being followers to being leaders as well. It should be however, be noted that such roles such as the child keeping are still regarded as to be of feminine nature.
Bibliography
Barash, David. Sociobiology and Behavior. New York: Elsevier, 1977.
Campbell, Bernard. Human Evolution. Chicago: Aldine,1974.
Robert, Kelly. The Foraging Spectrum. Washington, D.C: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995.
