This article presents a thought experiment (Brown 2023) to investigate the origin of sexual division of labor. The purpose is to grasp the inner logic of the transformation rather than describing the actual historical process. We believe that a clear understanding of the origin of gender-bias will help us to mitigate its harmful effects and establish an unbiased society. Empirical study suggests that sexual division of labor evolved during the Upper Paleolithic era (Kuhn 2006). Anthropological research indicates that sex based division of labor gave modern humans some advantage over the Neandertals (Lovgren 2006). Scholars have offered various explanations of gender-bias e.g. power and private property (Engles 1877), Biological (Mardock 1949), Biogrammers (Tiger, Fox 1971) etc. Scientists, Historians and Philosophers have investigated the gendered power structure (Engels 1877; Beauvoir 1949; Lerner 1986; Walby 1989; Harari 2015) extensively. This study considers a small group of hunter-gatherers. It’s struggle for existence can be modelled as a constrained multi-objective optimization problem (Liang 2024) to maximize food security, minimize child and female mortality under the constraints of limited food supply, inter-group competition, uncontrolled pregnancy, disease, injury etc. Three orthogonal systems, namely, i) gender-neutral, ii) male as homemaker-caregiver and female as protector-provider, and iii) female as homemaker-caregiver and male as protector-provider were evolved over successive generations. Outcome analysis indicates that third system ensures best fitness for survival and growth. However, this study addresses only the pre-historical origin of sexual division of labor. Important aspects e.g., cultural diversity, social evolution, gender dynamics etc. are later developments.

Authors:
Samir Roy, National Institute of Technical Teachers' Training and Research, India

About the Presenter(s)
Samir Roy is a retired Indian Professor. He is the author of the book “Introduction to Soft Computing: Neuro-Fuzzy and Genetic Algorithms”, published by Pearson. Currently he is doing interdisciplinary research on AI, Philosophy, Gender Studies etc.

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