Women and the Agricultural Revolution Essay -- essays papers

Women and the Agricultural diversityElise Boulding in her article, Women and the Agricultural Revolution, argues thatwomen played a key role in initiating the Agricultural Revolution. She defines therevolution as happening in spite of appearance two stages horticulture and factory farm proper. Womenhad a prominent role within the earlier form, horticulture. Horticulture is defined asfarming for subsistence only.Womens roles on the farm were not as plethoric as societygrew to farming for surplus instead. Boulding begins the article by discussing the gaolbreaksociety made from wandering nomads to settled villagers. She explains that it was womenwho recognize that plants could be comfortably domesticated. It was because of the domestication of plants that people decided to eventually settle down. In doing so, the early on settlers exchanged the fairly simplistic nomadic life to that of a hard-working farmer. passim the essay, Boulding emphasizes the role women played in initiati ng this revolutionary shift. She describes the main duties women had and the status they held within a horticulture society. However, this changed as the purpose of farming shifted to agriculture proper. According to Boulding, womens influence on the Agricultural Revolution beganvery early on. Women had recognized the significance of einkorn, a nutritious plant thatwas easy to cultivate. It was because of women recognizing that plants could bedomesticated that nomads were introduced to farming....