As we entered the third millennium, hundreds of religious leaders, political leaders, and non-governmental organizations met together to discuss the state of the world, to establish potential solutions to the world's problems, and establish goals for amelioration. This reflection on the general state of the world and its inhabitants (animal, as well as human) performed at the Millennium Summit of September 2001 in New York, USA, brought up once again a topic which has not ceased to be addressed: the status of women. The degraded rank of women in society is consistently pointed at, and is the subject of innumerous discussions - such as the one of the Millennium Summit.
But where do these differences come from? One can wonder why the status of women deviated from equality the way it did. What process led to patriarchy? It is this essay's object than to address this question.
Hunter gatherers adopted the first form of human food source and consequently developed the first societal organization. Food source/production and societal organization go hand in hand as they serve each other. In other words, societal organization depends on the type of food source, and the chosen food source depends on societal organization. .
Hunter gathering, being the first type of human lifestyle, developed the very first societal organization. In this organization, women had equal (if not superior sometimes) roles in hunter gatherer societies than men did. There are three distinct reasons for this, and depend entirely on the intrinsic lifestyle of hunter gatherers and their type of food source. The small clans of hunter gatherer society were the fundamental and only unit of the societal organization, and therefore women, as well as every one else, were indispensable in their task. Because of this, men and women worked together equally; the men hunted and made tools, and the women mainly gathered vegetables and other plants and fruits.
