Gender relations have only slightly changed in the midst of the growing complexity of human societies through the centuries. Women remain the primary caregivers and are expected by their society to be responsible for child and infant care whether it be in subsistence economies or in modern day stateshood. However, men’s traditional roles of hunting, construction, political leadership, and even combat have slowly become shared with women as societies become politically and economically more complex.
Subsistence economies
In subsistence economies, males conduct hunting activities while their female counterparts gather wild plants for food. Both of them can together collect shellfish ...