The more things change, the more they remain the same. Before we developed culturally, we were hunter gatherers. This meant that people ate nuts, fruits and leaves that grew naturally and then hunted wild animals for protein. Women were designated gatherers and men were hunters. This is definitely based on risk and workload that these gender roles were based.
However, recent evidence from archeology and studies by evolution anthropologists have revealed that the divide was not clear cut. Women also engaged in hunting as much as they were the designated gatherers. The study shows that they may not only have hunted the small game but went for the big game as well.
The family was not designed as it is today. In the hunter gathering period, there were no families, the strong males provided for and mated with more women. It is women who kept households and nurtured children. Men came and went for protection and provision for them as women lived communally and cooperated in raising the children. This looked perfect until the recent findings and it reminded of the modern world where women have become accustomed to the office space and lead in provision in many households. There is nothing new under the sun.
Independent woman
Women could not sit and wait for men who went hunting and maybe found better looking women elsewhere. Because men could walk further and often collaborated with other men in hunting, their adventures could take them very far. In the meantime, the children had to have some protein in their diet and a woman had to do what a woman had to do. So, independent woman is not a new phenomenon.
Men valued competence as a result of hunting. Hunters only manage to kill about 20 per cent of their targets. This meant that lone hunters, despite their prowess, would still fail in bringing home a kill most of the time. This led men to learn collaboration where the chances of success are raised. This meant that interpersonal skills became as important as hunting skills. These innate skills that were passed down to boys gave men an upper hand in the modern industrial world.
Hunting made men think and act strategically. When and where to set traps and when to go for the open hunt. They also had to share their kill equitably to earn respect but also to build loyalty because you never know who will kill the next catch.
In as much as women hunted, they may not have gone far from home because of the children which limited the acquisition of such skills.
Office politics is inevitable. While some people flourish in it, to some work environment is specifically for work. They find the politics energy draining and a distraction from the core business of delivering. The irony is delivering at work counts at the lower ranks. As one rises, as much as competencies count, they don’t determine if one stays in the job or not.
The most successful people know how to balance competence with office politics. They know how to get along with people while delivering in their roles. This is what men are good at and women are catching well because they are natural communicators and connectors when they choose to.
Household success
Trends show that women are making progress in the professional arena even in areas once deemed male-dominated. It is something men have perfected but women have learned to work out of their femininity. Getting along with people is easy for men because it is compartmentalized on objectives. Once the hunt is done, we may not need to connect again. In most cases, men don’t need to like someone but will still work with them. On the other hand, women tend to reveal their dislike for someone or may not stand working with someone they don’t like. This is born from the hunter gathering days when women determined the success and well-being of the household. If she failed, the household failed. If a man failed in the hunt, he fails alone.
Negotiating has become a very important skill in the modern world. Those who rise to the top may be good at several things but negotiating is among them. It is a skill human beings learned at the inception of society as we know it today.