Toward an Anthropology of Women

“Reviewing this fine collection of writings proved to be a consciousness-raisin experience for me. The papers present a very different, yet not radically feminist, look at human evolution, the origin of the family, and the role of women in a variety of cultural settings. When one stops to think that the vast majority of 20th – century anthropological thought has come from men, one must then question whether or not many of the so – called truisms regarding male – female roles are biased. In light of this, the authors present’ a challenge to traditional anthropology, and a demand to incorporate feminist critiques and empirical investigations into its work.’ Topics covered include the evolution of sex differences, matriarchal societies, sex bias in anthropology, women and economic development, and the status of women in several societies, including rural China, Nigeria, Italy, and the Dominician Republic. The writing is generally first-rate, and certainly of interest to the general reader.”                                                         – Library Journal
“The book is a must for those who would follow the Marxist – feminist argument. Most of the authors are developing their arguments within the general outline of Marxist theory, yet their work here exposes some of the tensions and conflicts within that same theory. This is certainly the stuff of dialectics!…”                                                                                                                                                                 – Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews
“…this collection reveals the astonishing methodological and ideological biases that permeate almost all of what we know about the world’s other cultures. As an important new contribution to the sociology of knowledge this book goes well beyond similar works…”                                      – Sociology