1. Introduction Page 1
2. Cross-Cultural Methodology
Page 2
3. Societies with Women Warriors
Page 3
4. The Exclusion of Women from War
Page 4
5.Type of Warfare Determines Marital Residency
Pages 5-6
6. The Prehistory of Warfare
Pages 7-8
7. Interaction of Biology and Culture
Page 9
8. Conclusion
Page 10
From the available evidence there is no reason to suggest that the absence of women from active warfare reflects sex differences in a "so-called aggressive instinct" that is critical for warfare. Instead, cross-cultural data support a different hypothesis. Under conditions of warfare against neighboring communities, many cultures have adopted a marital residency system in which the bride comes from a different community and lives with the family of the husband. This produces a situation in which the wife is faced with the contradiction that her husband may go forth to make war against her brothers and father. Historically, the contradiction has been resolved most often by totally excluding women from any participation in warfare. Although this probably occurred early in human prehistory, and is documented only for stateless cultures in the present analysis, it would seem likely that it has had profound consequences for sex roles in subsequent history, including all recent civilizations.
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