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1 - Women in Human Evolution Redux

from Part I - The Strange and the Familiar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2019

Cathy Willermet
Affiliation:
Central Michigan University
Sang-Hee Lee
Affiliation:
University of California, Riverside
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Summary

In the history of paleoanthropology, generations of scholars have interpreted and imagined the role of women in shaping the evolution of humanity. Much of this literature about prehistoric women centers on the biologic differences between males and females, which in turn necessitated different evolutionary subsistence and reproductive strategies. When specialization in economic or subsistence production is differentiated by sex, it is typically referred to as a sexual division of labor. The idea that early humans divided their labor by sex is so influential that many believe the human lineage itself could be defined by the singular division between men hunting and women gathering.

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Evaluating Evidence in Biological Anthropology
The Strange and the Familiar
, pp. 11 - 34
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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