The role of women in foraging and horticultural societies

¶ … role of women in foraging societies.

The role of women in foraging and horticultural-based societies

Women are equally respected for their foraging capacities, although their tasks may differ. Typically, men hunt and women gather, although sometimes these roles are sometimes and, to some extent, reversed with women hunting the small animal and men bringing the gathered food. To help each other with their specific tasks, women may inform men about animals that they have encountered, whilst males may inform females about ripe or abundant plant food.

There are cultures where women do hunt, but even though they may be more successful at the hunting than males, such as in the Agta rain forest, the women here confine themselves to small game bounty rather than to the large game which they leave to men. With the batek society, hunting for females, is voluntary although generally discouraged since males insist that their ability with the blowpipe (in that they have stronger breath than females) increases the hunting skill (in that the dart reaches further).

Generally, women's hunting skills being less practiced than that of males, is less developed.

In horticultural societies, as compared to hunting societies, women's division of labor is greater than that of men and more valued, since it is the female who, generally, possesses knowledge of plants and herbs, their location, the kind of soils that they flourish in, their drainage, amount of sun or shade, and other variables related to their cultivation. Whereas the men possesses greater knowledge of animal behavior, the women are, generally, more skilled in horticultural activities. Men, therefore, generally become involved in animal domestication, whilst horticulture is relegated to women. In a horticultural society, 39% of females are significantly involved in cultivation, as compared to an agrarian society where only 8% of the activity is a woman's responsibility. In horticultural societies, women are generally involved in weeding, planting and harvesting, whilst men may relegate themselves to the clearing and burning.

How a woman's status is impacted by her participation in food procurement

The traditional anthropological literature prized men's hunting activities above those of women since it was the amount of meat that he brought into the camp that contributed to his value. Men, therefore, had a higher status. Today, both men and women are equally valued for their separate but important tasks in food contribution.

In fact, just as men are valued for the 'meat' that they supply, women are equally valued for their expertise in horticulture and horticultural production may even provide them with the decision-making status in societies that revolve around horticulture.

How a woman's status in these societies, compares to that of women in American society today