Sexual division of labor in old world agriculture

The model includes two kinds of variables -- labor allocation constraints and technological factors. It is assumed that the male contribution to agriculture increases with societal complexity primarily because (1) women"s labor gets redirected to other tasks, such as the care of domesticated animals, and (2) men"s labor is pulled into agriculture by the increase in the total daily agricultural workload. The importance of domesticated animals to subsistence emerges as the single most powerful predictor of male participation in agriculture. Population pressure and a long dry season also act to increase the relative contribution of men to agricultural subsistence. Both increase the amount of work to be done per unit of land and time and, hence increase the amount of agricultural work that men must do. The plow also acts to decrease female participation in agricultural subsistence, presumably through its effect on land ownership and the form of marriage, but it does not have the strength of relationship to female subsistence participation that often has been claimed for it. (Author abstract)