Recent Study Debunks the Stereotype of Men as Sole Hunters and Women as Exclusive Gatherers

Contrary to the widespread assumption that men are the hunters and women are the gatherers in foraging communities, new research reveals that women are actively engaged in hunting in 79% of such societies. The research scrutinizes data from 63 foraging communities across the globe and calls for a reevaluation of gender roles in both historical and current foraging cultures, emphasizing the necessity to remove prejudice in archaeological interpretations.

Data from various foraging societies globally indicate that women are adept at hunting large game animals.

The comprehensive analysis of data from numerous foraging societies worldwide establishes that women engage in hunting in no less than 79% of these communities. This data contests the traditional view that men are the sole hunters, while women are limited to gathering. The study, spearheaded by Abigail Anderson of Seattle Pacific University, USA, has been recently published in the academic journal PLOS ONE.

A prevalent conviction has been that men in foraging societies typically focus on hunting, while women specialize in gathering plant-based foods. Nevertheless, accumulating archaeological findings from throughout human history and prehistory contradict this long-standing notion. For example, women in multiple societies have been discovered buried with tools associated with big-game hunting.

Some scholars have proposed that the role of women as hunters may have been limited to historical societies, with more contemporary foraging communities adhering to the stereotype of men as hunters and women as gatherers. To examine this claim, Anderson and her team analyzed data spanning the last century from 63 global foraging societies, including those from North and South America, Africa, Australia, Asia, and the Oceanic region.

Their findings reveal that women are engaged in hunting in 79% of the societies studied, irrespective of whether they are mothers. Over 70% of hunting activities by women are premeditated, as opposed to impromptu killings of animals encountered during other tasks. Furthermore, intentional hunting by women often targets a diverse range of game, most notably large animals.

The study also uncovers that women take an active role in disseminating hunting techniques and typically employ a wider array of weapons and hunting methods than men.

These revelations imply that women in many foraging societies are skilled hunters who play a significant role in the hunting activities, thereby challenging long-established assumptions about gender roles in such communities. The authors point out that such stereotypes have influenced prior archaeological work, resulting in hesitancy among some scholars to identify objects buried with women as hunting implements. The authors advocate for a reexamination of such artifacts and caution against perpetuating the outdated notion of men as exclusive hunters and women as sole gatherers in future investigations.

The authors conclude: “Global evidence indicates that in the majority of cultures, women are involved in subsistence hunting.”

Reference: “The Myth of Man the Hunter: Women’s contribution to the hunt across ethnographic contexts” by Abigail Anderson, Sophia Chilczuk, Kaylie Nelson, Roxanne Ruther, and Cara Wall-Scheffler, 28 June 2023, PLOS ONE.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287101

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More about gender roles in foraging societies

• PLOS ONE Journal
• Seattle Pacific University Research
• Gender Roles in Society
• Foraging Societies
• Archaeological Interpretations and Bias
• History of Hunting and Gathering
• Traditional Beliefs and Gender Roles