A new study has shown that gender equality was not a problem of some societies in the early periods of humanity. According to the recent scientific reports, it seems like men were equal to women at some period in time, so it seems that not every era was dominated by one of the two genders. Gender equality existed in the early periods of humanity, says the new study which brings a new perspective on the way our society has changed through the passing of the centuries.
In the more recent history, though, the human race con not be proud of the way it dealt with problems of equality between genders. Women have represented the weaker part of the human race. Some societies, like the Ancient Greeks for example, have gone so far as stating that women are not human in the same sense men were. The emancipation of the women has started at the end of the 19th century, in our Western civilization and great thinkers like Simone de Beauvoir have immensely contributed intellectually to the cause of the women. So, compared to the entire history of the Western civilization, we have not started to think about the problems of women until minutes ago.
Mark Dyble, the anthropologist who has led the new study on gender equality and a scientist affiliated to the University College London has said in a statement that the problem of equality between men and women is not yet fully known, not even from a historical point of view. According to Dyble, there are many misconceptions in connection to this matter that lead to false conclusion upon the gender equality in, for instance, the tribes that had hunting as the main source of living. We are tempted to think that such tribes would be dominated by males, still, according to the recent anthropology study by Dyble and his team of fellow researchers, it looks like we are wrong.
“When only men have influence over who they are living with, the core of any community is a dense network of closely related men with the spouses on the periphery.”
Dyble affirmed.
He added that the equality between men and women has not always been a dream, but a reality of some societies. Dyble said that it represented a major tool in the evolution of the human society and also in the survival of some tribes.
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