The role of women in foraging and horticultural based societies
The role of women in foraging and horticultural based societies is somewhat alike in that they are responsible for most of the food. They are different because one gathers or collects food and the other produces food. The women of San in southwest Africa are a part of a foraging civilization; they collect food. The women of foraging communities use what they call a “digging stick” to find tubers, roots use for food. They gathered nuts, melons, fruit, and berries, which are the most important part of the San diet; they almost contribute eighty percent (Nowak & Laird, 2010).
The Agta women of the Philippines rainforest are hunters. As written by Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gathers (2006), “Agta women regularly hunt, either in pairs or with men, using machetes or bows and arrows and hunting dogs” (para. 8).
The women are more successful than the men are at hunting, even though the animals they hunt are small (Nowak & Laird, 2010).
Women relinquish hunting altogether during late pregnancy and the earliest months after having children (Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gathers, 2006).
For the Batex women of a Southeast Asian rainforest, hunting is not obligatory. The Batex use blowpipes as a hunting tool; the women are not strong enough to be successful at hunting with the tool.
The women of horticultural based societies did not take part in hunting; they help produce and harvest food. Iroquois women are more involved in planting, weeding and harvesting (Nowak & Laird, 2010).
Women in horticultural used a “dibble stick” to dig up roots, plant tubers, and punch the earth, making small holes in the ground for seeds(Nowak & Laird, 2010, “Technology,” para.1).
Women are likely the primary caregivers of infants and young children because the children come along with the women when they cultivate the fields.
How a women’s status is impacted by her participation in food procurement
The San foraging society respects the oldest woman among as a community leader because of her dependable knowledge of locations to find food (Nowak & Laird, 2010).
In horticultural societies, “women’s knowledge of plants, of where they grow, of what kinds of soil they liked, what kind of drainage, how much sun or shade, and so on, was greater that men’s knowledge(Nowak & Laird, 2010,“Division of Labor,” para.1) . These women play an important part in cultivation. The Iroquois community valued their women, for their work and role in village’s survival. As cultivators they owned the maize (corn); this gave them power within Iroquoian society (Nowak & Laird, 2010).
Both the band (foraging society) and tribe (horticultural society) respect the women for their participation in food procurement.
How a woman’s status in these societies, compares to that of women in American society today
The women of both the band and tribe have a high status because of their contribution to the survival of the group. Their people greatly appreciate and respect them. Even though we women in American society have a role very much like that of the band and tribe, our status is not high like that of the women in those societies. In fact, some our American male counterparts have a male chauvinist saying, “A woman’s place is in the kitchen.” In other words, some men think that we are not good for anything else. They sometimes take us for granted because they think that household chores are things we should do anyway. Women in American society can have more education and experience as their male counterparts and still are likely to make less money. This is because of the male chauvinistic mentality. Therefore, women in the American society have a low status, at least; lower that than of men.
References
Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers. (2006).
II.II.1 Gender relations in hunter-gatherer societies. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/cuphg/ii_ii_1_gender_relations_in_hunter_gatherer_societies