Overlooked Role

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A new study on modern hunter-gatherer societies is dispelling the assumption that women have been mere caretakers and only tended to children, Science Alert reported.

Scientists analyzed more than 60 existing foraging societies across the world within the past century and found that nearly 80 percent of them showed evidence of female hunting.

The female’s role in hunting was also not limited: The women would stalk and hunt prey, not just kill an animal if the opportunity arose. Data also showed that women’s participation was up to 100 percent in groups where hunting was the most important source of food.

The research team observed that female hunters would often use unique strategies and toolkits for hunting.

For example, the Agta women in the Philippines would hunt in teams during the day and employ bows and arrows, and knives. The men, however, would mainly hunt alone at night, mainly using bows and arrows.

And in a case of multi-tasking and juggling, the female hunters would also bring their children – even as infants – along in their hunts. The findings found that childcare did not suffer.

The team explained that the analysis clearly shows the integral yet historically overlooked role women have played in human survival.

They suggest that one of the main reasons for this oversight is scientific bias coupled with modern gender stereotypes.

For instance, archaeologists have often assumed that the human remains near Viking weapons were male, but new investigations have shown that there were female warriors.

“Researcher bias shapes science’s interpretation of data, and it behooves each generation of scientists to ensure that paradigms fit the existing data,” the authors wrote.