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Hunting and Gathering

The Human Sexual Division of Foraging Labor

Florida State University

Among human foragers, males and females target different foods and share them. Some view this division of labor as a cooperative enterprise to maximize household benefits; others question men's foraging goals. Women tend to target reliable foods. Men tend to target energy-dense foods that are difficult to acquire and are shared widely outside the household, perhaps to advertise their phenotypic quality to potential mates and allies via a costly, and thus hard to fake, signal. An analysis of variation in sex-specific foraging was conducted to investigate its causes and origins. There is less division of labor in less seasonal, more productive habitats where males do more gathering. This suggests males respond more as optimal foragers than maximal signalers. The division of labor likely evolved after pair bonds, and after gathering technology became efficient enough to provision others, allowing males to specialize in foods with the greatest trade value with females.

Key Words: costly signaling • foragers • hunter-gatherers • sexual division of labor • standard cross-cultural sample

Cross-Cultural Research, Vol. 41, No. 2, 170-195 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1069397106297529


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