The Sexual Division of Labor
The Individual and Society
Human Sexuality
Rebecca Bliege Bird,
Brian F. Codding,
Rebecca Bliege Bird
Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
Search for more papers by this authorRebecca Bliege Bird,
Brian F. Codding,
Rebecca Bliege Bird
Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Many evolutionary arguments fossilize a human division of labor as one of man the hunter, and woman the gatherer, with differences in labor arising out of the effectiveness of efficiency. We suggest here that arguments based solely on the efficiency of labor specialization among heterosexual married pairs over-generalize divisions of labor that are, in reality, much more diverse. Divisions of labor can be based on age, as well as on gender, and are not limited solely to monogamous marital pairs. Divisions of gender take the form more generally not of meat and vegetables, but of the acquisition of high and low variance foods. Some differences in labor may be the result of conflicting interests, others emerging from common goals, and still others from the power of patriarchy. Differences in labor patterns may not be designed solely, or even primarily, to provision children, but may also be shaped by the social goals of both sexes.
References
- Alexander, R. D., & Noonan, K. M. (1979). Concealment of ovulation, parental care, and human social evolution. In N. A. Chagnon & W. Irons (Eds.), Evolutionary biology and human social behavior: An anthropological perspective (pp. 402–435). North Scituate, MA: Duxbury Press.
- Becker, G. S. (1985). Human capital, effort, and the sexual division of labor. Journal of Labor Economics, 3, 33.
- Biesele, M., & Barclay, S. (2001). Ju/‘hoan women’s tracking knowledge and its contribution to their husbands' hunting success. African Study Monographs. Supplementary Issue., 26, 67–84.
- Bird, D. W. (1997). Delayed reciprocity and tolerated theft: The behavioral ecology of food-sharing strategies. Current Anthropology, 38, 49–78.
- Bliege Bird, R. (2007). Fishing and the sexual division of labor among the Meriam. American Anthropologist, 109, 442–451.
- Bliege Bird, R., & Bird, D. W. (2008). Why women hunt. Current Anthropology, 49, 655–693.
-
Bliege Bird, R., Bird, D. W., Smith, E. A., & Kushnick, G. C. (2002). Risk and reciprocity in Meriam food sharing. Evolution and Human Behavior, 23, 297–321.
10.1016/S1090-5138(02)00098-3 Google Scholar
- Bliege Bird, R., & Smith, E. A. (2005). Signaling theory, strategic interaction, and symbolic capital. Current Anthropology, 46, 221–248.
- Bliege Bird, R., Smith, E., & Bird, D. W. (2001). The hunting handicap: Costly signaling in human foraging strategies. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 50, 9–19.
- Brown, J. K. (1970). A note on the division of labor by sex. American Anthropologist, 72, 1073–1078.
-
Burton, M. L., Brudner, L. A., & White, D. R. (1977). A model of the sexual division of labor. American Ethnologist, 4, 227–252.
10.1525/ae.1977.4.2.02a00020 Google Scholar
- Codding, B., Bliege Bird, R., & Bird, D. W. (2011). Provisioning offspring and others: Risk–energy trade-offs and gender differences in hunter–gatherer foraging strategies. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, 278, 2502–2509.
- Dahlberg, F. (1983). Woman the gatherer. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
- Elston, R. G., & Zeanah, D. W. (2002). Thinking outside the box: A new perspective on diet breadth and sexual division of labor in the Prearchaic Great Basin. World Archaeology, 34, 103–130.
- Goodman, M. J., Griffin, P. B., Estioko-Griffin, A. A., & Grove, J. S. (1985). The compatibility of hunting and mothering among the Agta hunter-gatherers of the Philippines. Sex Roles, 12, 1199–1209.
- Gurven, M., & Hill, K. (2009). Why do men hunt? A reevaluation of “man the hunter” and the sexual division of labor. Current Anthropology, 50, 51.
- Hawkes, K. (1990). Why do men hunt? Some benefits for risky strategies. In E. A. Cashdan (Ed.), Risk and uncertainty in tribal and peasant economies. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
- Hawkes, K. (1991). Showing off: Tests of an hypothesis about men's foraging goals. Ethology and Sociobiology, 12, 29–54.
- Hawkes, K., O'Connell, J. F., & Blurton Jones, N. G. (1997). Hadza women's time allocation, offspring provisioning, and the evolution of long postmenopausal life spans. Current Anthropology, 38, 551–577.
- Hawkes, K., O'Connell, J. F., & Blurton Jones, N. G. (2001). Hadza meat sharing. Evolution and Human Behavior, 22, 113–142.
- Hawkes, K., O'Connell, J. F., & Coxworth, J. E. (2010). Family provisioning is not the only reason men hunt. Current Anthropology, 51, 259–264.
- Hawkes, K., O'connell, J. F., Jones, N. G., Oftedal, O. T., & Blumenschine, R. J. (1991). Hunting income patterns among the Hadza: Big game, common goods, foraging goals and the evolution of the human diet [and discussion]. Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, 334, 243–251.
- Hewlett, B. S. (1987). Intimate fathers: Patterns of paternal holding among Aka Pygmies. In M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The father's role: Cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 295–330). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Hill, K. (1988). Macronutrient modifications of optimal foraging theory: An approach using indifference curves applied to some modern foragers. Human Ecology, 16, 157–197.
- Hill, K., & Hurtado, A. M. (2009). Cooperative breeding in South American hunter–gatherers. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 276, 3863–3870.
- Hrdy, S. B. (1999). The woman that never evolved. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Hurtado, A., Hawkes, K., Hill, K., & Kaplan, H. (1985). Female subsistence strategies among Ache hunter-gatherers of Eastern Paraguay. Human Ecology, 13, 1–28.
- Hurtado, A. M., Hill, K., Hurtado, I., & Kaplan, H. (1992). Trade-offs between female food acquisition and child care among Hiwi and Ache foragers. Human Nature, 3, 185–216.
- Ivey, P. K. (2000). Cooperative reproduction in Ituri Forest hunter-gatherers: Who cares for Efe infants? Current Anthropology, 41, 856–866.
-
Jarvenpa, R., & Brumbach, H. J. (2006). Revisiting the sexual division of labor: Thoughts on ethnoarchaeology and gender. Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, 16, 97–107.
10.1525/ap3a.2006.16.1.97 Google Scholar
- Kaplan, H., Hill, K., Lancaster, J., & Hurtado, A. M. (2000). A theory of human life history evolution: Diet, intelligence, and longevity. Evolutionary Anthropology Issues News and Reviews, 9, 156–185.
- Kim, P. S., Coxworth, J. E., & Hawkes, K. (2012). Increased longevity evolves from grandmothering. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279, 4880–4884.
- Korotayev, A. (2001). An apologia of George Peter Murdock. Division of labor by gender and postmarital residence in cross-cultural perspective: A reconsideration. World Cultures, 12(2), 179–203.
- Kramer, K. L. (2011). The evolution of human parental care and recruitment of juvenile help. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 26, 533–540.
- Leacock, E. (1981). History, development, and the division of labor by sex: Implications for organization. Signs, 7, 474–491.
- Lee, R. B. (1979). The! Kung San: Men, women, and work in a foraging community. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
- Lovejoy, C. O. (1981). The origin of man. Science, 211, 341–350.
- Mace, R., & Sear, R. (2005). Are humans cooperative breeders. In E. Voland, A. Chasiotis & W. Schiefenhoevel (Eds.), Grandmotherhood: The evolutionary significance of the second half of female life (pp. 143–159). Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
- Marlowe, F. W. (1999). Showoffs or providers? The parenting effort of Hadza Men. Evolution and Human Behavior, 20, 391–404.
- Marlowe, F. W. (2003). A critical period for provisioning by Hadza men: Implications for pair bonding. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24, 217–229.
- Murdock, G. P., & Provost, C. (1973). Factors in the division of labor by sex: A cross-cultural analysis. Ethnology, 12, 203–225.
- Noss, A. J., & Hewlett, B. S. (2001). The contexts of female hunting in Central Africa. American Anthropologist, 103, 1024–1040.
- Scelza, B. A. (2009). The grandmaternal niche: Critical caretaking among Martu Aborigines. American Journal of Human Biology, 21, 448–454.
- Scelza, B. A. (2010). Fathers' presence speeds the social and reproductive careers of sons. Current Anthropology, 51, 295–303.
- Sear, R., & Mace, R. (2008). Who keeps children alive? A review of the effects of kin on child survival. Evolution and Human Behavior, 29, 1–18.
- Steward, J. H. (1938). Basin-plateau aboriginal sociopolitical groups. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
- Washburn, S., & Lancaster, C. S. (1968). The evolution of hunting. In R. B. Lee & I. Devore (Eds.), Man the hunter (pp. 293–303). Chicago, IL: Aldine.
- Watanabe, H. (1968). Subsistence and ecology of northern food gatherers with special reference to the Ainu. In R. B. Lee & I. Devore (Eds.), Man the hunter (pp. 69–77). Chicago, IL: Aldine.
- Winking, J., Gurven, M., & Kaplan, H. (2011). Father death and adult success among the Tsimane: Implications for marriage and divorce. Evolution and Human Behavior, 32, 79–89.
- Wood, B. M. (2006). Prestige or provisioning? A test of foraging goals among the Hadza. Current Anthropology, 47, 383–387.
- Zeanah, D. W. (2004). Sexual division of labor and central place foraging: A model for the Carson Desert of western Nevada. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 23, 1–32.
Further Reading
-
Coltrane, S., & Shih, K. Y. (2010). Gender and the division of labor. In J. C. Chrisler & D. R. McCreary (Eds.), Handbook of gender research in psychology (pp. 401–422). New York, NY: Springer.
10.1007/978-1-4419-1467-5_17 Google Scholar
- Cooke, L. P. (2004). The gendered division of labor and family outcomes in Germany. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 1246–1259.
- Ember, C. R., & Ember, M. (2003). Encyclopedia of sex and gender: Men and women in the world's cultures. New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
- Hrdy, S. B. (2009). Mothers and others: The evolutionary origins of mutual understanding. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Leacock, E. (1981). History, development, and the division of labor by sex: Implications for organization. Signs, 7, 474–491.
- Marlowe, F. W. (2007). Hunting and gathering: The human sexual division of foraging labor. Cross-Cultural Research, 41, 170–195.
- Peacock, N. R. (1991). Rethinking the sexual division of labor. In M. D. Leonardo (Ed.), Gender at the crossroads of knowledge: Feminist anthropology in the postmodern era. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Citing Literature
Browse other articles of this reference work:
