Chapter 6: How Cooking Frees Men

 ...and women! (in some contexts)

        

            In this chapter, Wrangham discuss the division of food-related labor between men and women. While women tend to look for predictably available resources, men pursue foods that are riskier to get and much harder to find (Wrangham, 2009). Hence hunter-gatherer men hunting large, potentially dangerous ungulates. As Wrangham discussed tribe after tribe that had social structures based off this principle, I began to wonder which groups of people, if any, had women hunters. Wrangham (2009) states that 99.3% of hunting in known societies is male, so the odds aren’t good. Still, I wanted to explore who the women of that .7% might be.  

            According to Noss and Hewlett (2001) “It is obvious that woman can hunt, but they do not do so in all contexts.” In an interview with the Guardian, Hewlett states that in the Aka tribe of Central Africa, the women hunt while the men spend 47% of their time with their infants—more than fathers in any other cultural group in the world (Moore, 2005).  Men of this forest dwelling hunter-gatherer tribe impose little ideological/political control over women, and this leniency has allowed women to become knowledgeable and experienced hunters (Noss and Hewlett, 2001). Women and men frequently trade domestic roles, one minding the children while the other hunts, gathers, or maintains the camp (Moore, 2005). In the same interview Hewlett states:

            "But, and this is crucial, there's a level of flexibility that's virtually unknown in our   society. Aka fathers will slip into roles usually occupied by mothers without a second thought and without, more importantly, any loss of status - there's no stigma involved in the different jobs."

            Among the Aka, women are as good, if not better than men as net-hunters (Noss and Hewlett, 2001; Moore, 2005). And Aka women are not alone. The women of the Agta tribe of the Philippines hunt wild pig and deer with considered efficiency using spears and bow-and-arrows (Estioko-Griffin and Griffin 1975, 1981).  Other women hunters included the Woods Cree who hunt moose and caribou, whether they are married or not, the Matses in the Peruvians Amazon who hunt alongside their husbands, and many more. (Brightman 1996; Romanoff 1983 respectively).

            However among these tribes, a pattern emerges. Remember how Wrangham suggested that women select for more readily-available resources that are reliable and of minimal risk? The Hawkes et. al (1997) hypothesis states that women who are “the day-to-day providers for their families” and “regularly hunt” more often than not “hunt for small and medium-sized game that is regularly acquired and shared within the family rather than for larger game that is irregularly acquired and shared with the entire community.” (Hawkes et. Al, 1997; Noss and Hewlett, 2001). According to Noss and Hewlett (2001) this is evident for example in the previously mentioned Agta women, who hunt far less often, and for small animals. I find this interesting that, considering Wrangham’s assertion, women tend to hunt in the same way they gather.  Yet that .7%, in my opinion, is a brave bunch. Wrangham could have given them at least one blog post’s worth of a mention.

References:

Brightman R. 1996. The Sexual Division of Foraging Labor: biology, Taboo, and Gender                                               Politics. Comparative Studies in Society and History. 38:687-729.

Estioko-Griffin A, and Griffin P. 1981. Woman the Hunter: The Agta. In Woman the Gatherer. Frances Dahlberg, ed. New Haven: Yale University Press. 121-151.

Estioko-Griffin A, and Griffin P. 1975. The Ebuked Agta of the northeasterm Luzon.Philippine  Quarterly of Cultural and Society. 3:237-244.

Hawkes J, O’Connel J, and Blurton Jones N. 1997. Hadza Women’s Time Allocation, Offspring Provisioning and the Evolution of Long Postmenopausal Life Spans.  Current Anthropology. 38:551-577

Moore J. 2005. Are the men of the African Aka tribe the best fathers in the world? The Guardian.  Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/jun/15/childrensservices.familyandrelationships

Noss A, and Hewlett B. 2001. The Contexts of Female Hunting in Central Africa. American                                          Anthropology. 103:1020-1040. 

Romanoff A. 1983. Women as hunters among the Masters of the Peruvian amazon.                                                       Human Ecology.  11:338-343. 

Wrangham, R. 2009. Catching fire: how cooking made us human. New York: Basics Books.