In Women After All, anthropologist Melvin Konner traces the arc of evolution to
explain the relationships between women and men. Drawing on colourful examples f
rom the natural world-the octopus, the black widow spider and coral reef fish, w
hich can switch from male to female in a single reproductive career-he sheds lig
ht on our biologically different human identities and the poignant exceptions th
at challenge the male/female divide. We meet hunter-gatherers in Botswana whose
culture gave women a prominent place, inventing the working mother and respectin
g women's voices around the fire.
History upset this balance as a dense world
of war fostered extreme male dominance. But our species has been recovering ove
r the past two centuries and an unstoppable move towards equality is afoot. It w
ill not be the end of men but it will be the end of male supremacy and a better,
wiser world for women and men alike.
