June 29 (EURPA PRESS) –
The analysis of the data of dozens of societies of food collectors from all over the world shows that women hunt in at least 79% of these societieswhich goes against the widespread belief that men hunt exclusively and women gather exclusively, according to a study published in the open access journal ‘PLOS ONE’.
Exists the widespread belief that in gathering populations, men hunted animals and women gathered plant products. However, there is increasing archaeological evidence from the history and prehistory of humanity that questions this paradigm; for example, in many societies women have been found buried alongside big game hunting tools.
Some researchers have suggested that the role of women as hunters was limited to the past, and that the most recent societies followed the paradigm of man as hunter and woman as gatherer.
To investigate that possibility, Abigail Anderson of Seattle Pacific University in the United States and colleagues analyzed data from the past 100 years on 63 forager societies around the world, including societies in North and South America, Africa, Australia , Asia and the oceanic region.
They discovered that women hunt in 79% of the societies analyzed, regardless of their status as mothers. More than 70% of female hunting appears to be intentional, as opposed to opportunistic killing of animals found while engaged in other activities, and intentional hunting by women appears to be directed at game of all sizes, with greater frequency of big game.
The analysis also revealed that women are actively involved in teaching hunting practices and they tend to employ a greater variety of weapons and hunting strategies than men.
These findings suggest that, in many hunting societies, women are expert hunters and play a decisive role in practice, adding to the evidence challenging long-held perceptions of gender roles in hunting societies. animal hunting societies.
The authors note that these stereotypes have influenced previous archaeological studies. and that, for example, some researchers have been reluctant to interpret objects buried with women as hunting tools. They call for this evidence to be re-evaluated and warn of the danger of misapplying the idea of men as hunters and women as gatherers in future research.
They conclude that “Evidence from around the world shows that women are involved in subsistence hunting in most cultures.”
