Impact of Agricultural Revolution on Relationship between Men and Women, Civilization Free Essay Example, 1250 words

Roles and responsibilities were the major changes that took place in men and women during Neolithic age. Men assumed the primary responsibility of working in the fields and herding the animals, jobs that kept them away from home. While women stayed at home looking after their children, weaving clothes and performing household activities that required considerable labor. The agricultural revolution allowed women to have children much more frequently rather than giving three to four years gap as was the case in hunter-gatherer societies (BBC, 2004)6. But authors like Karimah (2003) mention that food production or agriculture during the Neolithic period was women oriented job and they were the primary discovers of agriculture and that the women controlled the new form of wealth and status. But it is later explained that most of the preliminary tasks of agriculture were completed by men while planting, cultivating and harvesting were the part of women’s task because of the belief that women can make things grow7. It could be stated that the change occurred mostly due to the men’s ability to extract food from the land resulting in the creation of government for division of work on large so as to store food giving way to the growth of population. We will write a custom essay sample on Impact of Agricultural Revolution on Relationship between Men and Women, Civilization or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now This resulted in the shift of governance from women to men i. e. from matriarchal to patriarchal as agriculture began to be transformed through the invention of technologies such as iron plough and other tools which allowed some individuals to control large plots of land which were controlled by others (Christ, 1998)8. Civilizations Growth of population and need for surplus food were the major driving forces for the emergence of civilization. According to Duiker and Spielvogel (2006) early human beings formed small groups and developed a simple culture which enabled them to survive which further grow into formation of civilization. 9 According to Lockard (2010) farming generated more complex societies allowing families to form small villages which had more children to help in the fields and over time people began to see themselves as part of the larger community10. The change in relationship also gave rise to crafts and arts as pottery developed, woven baskets were used, and stone tools became refined as flint blades which were used in fields. Moreover, the invention of writing enabled the society to keep records providing more control to the mankind. As agriculture flourished, wealth increased which was used to build cities and armies to protect the settlement giving rise to Bronze Age (Speilvogel, 2011)11.