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Gender Roles In Ancient Societies

980 Words4 Pages

Labor division between genders began with our ancient ancestors in prehistoric communities. In prehistoric communities, the need for the division of labor arose. Therefore, this led to separate and diverse expectations between the developing gender roles. The following research paper examines the origins of establishing the division of labor in prehistoric communities, as well as examining how the first distinctive divisions of labor influenced gender roles in ancient societies.
As labor division increased, gender roles became more distinctive, and gender perceptions became more established. The division of labor, although not necessarily unique to humans, arose in prehistoric communities as a necessity of survival. This labor division …show more content…

According to Vincent (1979), fertility was more closely regulated in hunter-gatherer communities as large families posed more difficulty in the constant movement of this nomadic lifestyle. Vincent (1979) also suggests this need for more childbearing created a more extensive division of labor among the sexes. In some cases, the need for more childbearing would have established a more extensive full-time role for a woman in the role of childbearing and childrearing.
The Neolithic Role
When thinking of the establishment of the divisions of labor, perhaps the Neolithic revolution is one of the first periods that comes to mind. The Neolithic revolution also referred to as the agricultural revolution, fashioned a transitional culture of life changes (Jia, Dong, Li, Brunson, Chen, Ma, & ... Zhang, 2013). Of course, agriculture changed the dietary habits of our ancestors, but it also marked the initial progress into settled societies.
Prior to the Neolithic revolution, prehistoric communities practiced nomadic behaviors, in that hunter-gatherer activities often required communities to follow the herds (Jia et al., 2013). Therefore, the Neolithic revolution was the cornerstone of establishing modern day societies. This led to social class divisions which further contributed to strengthening

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