Women hunters: It is commonly believed that in ancient times, men used to hunt animals, while women served as gatherers of plant products for food. Now, a new study has shattered this myth by showing that not only do women hunt, but they also have better hunting skills than men. This is true for past as well as present situations. As part of the study, researchers from Seattle Pacific University in the US analysed data from 63 foraging societies around the world. The data, collected from the past 100 years, showed hunting trends from the Holocene era, which refers to the period that began 11,700 years before 2000 AD, and is still continuing. 


The study describing the findings was recently published in the journal PLOS ONE. 


The societies studied include communities from North America, South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Oceanic region.


In many societies, women have been found buried alongside hunting tools, indicating that women used to hunt in the past. 


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The study has shown that women hunt in at least 79 per cent of the societies analysed. This breaks the myth that men exclusively hunt and women exclusively gather. 


Women hunt regardless of whether they are mothers. Another interesting finding is that over 70 per cent of female hunting is intentional. This means that they do not perform opportunistic killing, in which animals are executed only when encountered inadvertently. Rather, they intentionally hunted animals as part of games of different sizes, mostly large. 


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Women have better hunting strategies than men, are involved in teaching hunting practices, and are extremely skilled hunters. They also have a greater variety of weapon choice than men. All this makes it evident that the long-held perceptions about gender roles in foraging societies are wrong. 


Not only have females hinted throughout the Homo sapiens lineage, but have also been to war. 


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Previously, archaeological research has been affected due to these stereotypical beliefs. For instance, in some studies, researchers assumed that the objects buried with women were not hunting tools, when in reality, they were foraging objects. This means that researchers and the world should no longer hold to the belief that hunting was limited to men. The study shifts stereotypes associated with the division of labour, and proves that women not only had a significant role in hunting in the past, but also in the present.