1. (1) In early human history, life used to be short, and women gave birth to many children. (2) Because only women get
pregnant, carry a child for nine months, give birth, and nurse, for a considerable part of their lives women were limited in
what they could do. (3) To survive, an infant needed a nursing mother. (4) With a child at her breast or in her womb and
one on her hip on her back, a woman was encumbered physically. (5) Thus women everywhere took on the tasks
associated with the home and child care, while men took over hunting large animals and other tasks that required more
speed and longer absence from the base camp.
(6) Men gained both power and prestige. (7) They made and controlled the weapons for hunting and warfare. (8) They
left the camp to hunt animals, returning triumphantly with prey. (9) Leaving the camp, they also make contact with other
tribes and accumulated possessions in trade. (10) Men also gained prestige by returning with prisoners from warfare.
(11) In contrast, little prestige was given to the routine activities of women, who didn't do such showy and triumphant
things and were not seen as risking their lives for the group. (12) The men's weapons, their items of trade, and the
knowledge they gained from their contacts with other groups became sources of power.
(13) The result was the men took over society, creating a fundamental change in the relations of the sexes. (14) As
women became subject to the decisions of men, men justified their dominance. (15) They developed ideas that because
biology gives men superior strength, it also imbues manhood with superiority. (16) To avoid "contamination" with females,
who had become a lower class of people, men shrouded some of their activities in secrecy and established rules and
rituals that excluded women.
The implied main idea of this textbook passage is
a. Men's dominance in society is rooted in biology.
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b. In early human history, women everywhere took on the tasks associated with the home and child care.
c. Because they were physically stronger than women, men came to believe that they were superior to women.
d. It is natural for women today to feel inferior to men.