Discuss Evolutionary Explanations of Gender Roles (21)

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Discuss evolutionary explanations of gender roles (21) The evolutionary perspective offers one biological explanation of gender development. Division of labour portrays man as the hunter and provider with the woman as the gatherer and domestic mother. This division may have evolved because women spent most of their time reproducing and then caring for their children, whilst the men went out and hunted in order to provide food for their families. If women were to hunt the groups survival rate would have decreased as their full attention would have not been to reproduce and to farm, meaning that if hunting was unsuccessful there would be no farm crops to eat and they would in turn starve. Kuhn and Stiner (2006) believed that not having a division of labour was the reason why the Neanderthals did not survive and the homo-sapiens did. The Neanderthals had both men and women hunting, seen through injuries on their bone skeletons, this meant that when hunting was unsuccessful the group starved meaning that some died. This suggests that we now have a division of labour in order for survival. Mate choice has evolved in order to reproduce successfully. Men look for characteristics such as nice skin, glossy hair and a thin waste in women as this shows a sign of healthiness and fertility meaning that they will be able to reproduce and raise a baby successfully. Women on the other hand look for characteristics such as strength, a provider and a caring nature, these show that the man will be able to provide for her and support her when she is pregnant. The evolutionary explanation explains this as a way of maximising their reproductive success as the woman is going to be depending on the man to bring back meat from hunting in order for her and her baby to survive. This is why today we see many women trying to enhance their physical attractiveness and men advertise their status
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