Modern gender roles and agricultural history: the Neolithic inheritance
Modern gender roles and agricultural history: the Neolithic inheritance
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DOI：
10.2139/ssrn.2170945
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发表时间：
2012-11
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
C. W. Hansen;P. Jensen;C. Skovsgaard
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
C. W. Hansen;P. Jensen;C. Skovsgaard
这项研究提出了一个假设，即农业历史悠久的社会在性别角色方面的平等程度较低，这是由于对妇女在社会中的适当角色有更多的重男轻女的价值观和信念。我们在世界各国样本、欧洲地区样本以及居住在美国的移民和移民子女中检验了这一假设。这一证据表明，农业年限与女性劳动力参与率以及当代性别角色平等的其他衡量标准之间存在显著的负相关关系。这一发现是强大的，包括一个广泛的可能的混杂因素，包括历史犁使用和生长季节的长度。我们认为有两种机制可以解释这一结果：（1）农业历史较长的社会具有较高的技术进步水平，这在马尔萨斯时代转化为较高的生育率和家庭外女性的作用减弱;（2）向谷物农业的过渡导致了劳动分工，女性将更多的时间花在加工谷物上，而不是在田间工作。
This research proposes the hypothesis that societies with long histories of agriculture have less equality in gender roles as a consequence of more patriarchal values and beliefs regarding the proper role of women in society. We test this hypothesis in a world sample of countries, in a sample of European regions, as well as among immigrants and children of immigrants living in the US. This evidence reveals a significant negative relationship between years of agriculture and female labor force participation rates, as well as other measures of equality in contemporary gender roles. This finding is robust to the inclusion of an extensive set of possible confounders, including historical plough-use and the length of the growing season. We argue that two mechanisms can explain the result: (1) societies with longer agricultural histories had a higher level of technological advancement which in the Malthusian Epoch translated into higher fertility and a diminished role for women outside the home; (2) the transition to cereal agriculture led to a division of labor in which women spend more time on processing cereals rather than working in the field.