Foraging and Horticultural Society - Essay Example

It would also involve gathering insects and eggs or even hunting birds and animals (Andersen & Taylor, 2011). These activities require women to have the sophisticated knowledge of trapping skills, fishing and even root and tuber searching. Tools such as digging sticks, bows, knives and fishing nets are used in the abovementioned activities. Women also cultivate crops such as tubers, roots and grains in gardens using standard hand tools such as hoes.

The status of women has been impacted negatively because they are not empowered. In the societies above, women must stay close to their homes to care for the children. They are required to bear children and work hard to provide for them. Therefore, they remain around homesteads and dig in the gardens around them. In this context, the women are homemakers and cannot explore distant areas like their male counterparts. This situation has left women out of contributing to economic development within the foraging and horticultural-based societies. This has resulted in women spending much time gathering, hunting and caring for the family. The situation above is experienced in developing countries such as Asia. In such societies, women would bear many children, so food procurement becomes easy because such a step would increase the labour force.

On the other hand, their American counterparts contribute to the economic development of their nation. Most of them spend their time working and earning more than their husbands. Here, women have fewer children that they can easily manage, allowing them to focus on their careers. To American women, food is not a problem, and they do not spend much time accessing it. In such societies, processed food is used, requiring them to buy and present it for consumption. This brings out the difference between the two women; the American woman has time to work and contribute to economic development, while the woman in foraging society is tied to finding food for the family.