Evolutionary explanations of gender acquisition

Nota:

• Gender role divisions appeared as an adaptation to the challenges faced by ancestral humans in the EEA.  Observes role differences are a product of biological inheritance rather than acquired through socialisation. 

1. Division of Labour

   Nota:

   • Women were pregnant so adaptively advantageous.  Maximised group reproductive success (women =fertile)  Men = hunter/gatherers  Women = domestic
   1. Kuhn&Stiner (2006)

      Nota:

      • Neanderthals = no division of labour Women were hunting reduced reproductive success, as women died. 
   2. Stanford (1999)

      Nota:

      • When humans became carnivores, men became hunters due to selective pressures.  Men may have begun using meat to attract female interest
      1. Hill&Kaplan (1988)

         Nota:

         • Modern hunter-gatherer societies - men use meat as a means of gaining access to women. 
2. Cognitive Style
   1. Baren-Cohen (2002)

      Nota:

      • E - S theory  Women =empathizing (understanding, caring and child rearers) Men = systematic (building systems, hunting and spatial perception)  This determines job roles 
      1. Taylor (2000)

         Nota:

         • Stressful situations during EEA Men = FOFR + defensive  Women = Tend and Befriend (interpersonal) + protective  - explains why women seek interpersonal and are good empathisers
         1. Ennis (2001)

            Nota:

            • Natural exp.  sampled cortisol 1 week before exams and immediately before.  Males - increased Females - decreassed (supports different resources) 
         2. Taylor (2000)

            Nota:

            • females levels of oxytocin (reduced anxiety and increases sociability) increase as stress increases. 
      2. Baren-Cohen (2004)

         Nota:

         • Autism may be an example of the extreme male brain - excels at systematising and lacking empathy.   Autistics score high at systematising and low on empathy
3. Mate Choice

   Nota:

   • key to adaptive behaviour is reproductive success Men seeks physical attractiveness (Seek to mate frequently and with fertile)  women seek good resources  (they seek fertility too, but they invest more into offspring, so require resources)
   1. Waynforth&Dunbar (1995)

      Nota:

      • Personal Ads.  44% males sought physical attractiveness 22% of women 50%of women offered attractiveness 34% of males 
4. AO2/IDA
   1. Ignore nurture
      1. Deterministic
   2. Speculative

      Nota:

      • No firm factual basis  e.g. gender-related division of labour may = disappearance of Neanderthals, but there is no evidence could have been anything - Climate change at 30,000 BC (Tzedakis)