This article examines sex differences in sports and games of strategy and chance. Results indicated large differences in participation by gender, especially for combat and hunting sports and in patriarchal societies. The possible cross-cultural universality of this trend is discussed.

This article examines sex differences in sports and games of strategy and chance. Results indicated large differences in participation by gender, especially for combat and hunting sports and in patriarchal societies. The possible cross-cultural universality of this trend is discussed.

This article examines sex differences in sports and games of strategy and chance. Results indicated large differences in participation by gender, especially for combat and hunting sports and in patriarchal societies. The possible cross-cultural universality of this trend is discussed.

This paper investigates five different economic types of foragers: classic, transitional system, politically oriented, economically oriented, and intangibles-oriented. The author asserts that these economic types “are not mere epiphenomena of the oft-discussed social structural or political forces but, rather, are special characteristics that must be independently taken into account” (418). A myriad of environmental, subsistence, political, and social variables are examined: some differed significantly across the five economic types of foragers, but others such as famine threat, conflict, locational fixity, marital form, and postmarital residence did not differ between types.

This article challenges an earlier finding that hunter-gatherers are predominantly virilocal in residence. The author presents new tests of marital residence including early patterns in marital residence; results suggest that foragers are more multilocal than nonforagers. The author theorizes that bride service, food acquisition methods, small population size, little accumulated wealth, and low frequency of warfare among foragers could all influence the tendency toward multilocal residence.

A feminist critique of ethnographic information is tested to determine if the gender of fieldworkers or coders has a significant effect on the reliability of data regarding women's status. Findings indicate that there is no male bias in coding. With regard to male versus female ethnographers, only a few results (no more than chance) found any evidence of possible bias, but they are all in the same direction with female ethnographers more favorable. Author suggests that any bias will be lessened by using more specific coding scales.

Given that research on female political representation tends to be overlooked across many societies, this study investigates whether historical female political leadership influences contemporary female political representation in Africa. The authors hypothesize that precolonial traditions of women in leadership persist in shaping present-day representation. Using two original datasets—one from cross-cultural samples and one from previous elections—they find that ethnic groups with histories of female leaders have more women elected today, with results also show that many institutional factors have shaped women’s traditional political roles, and that the effects of historical colonialism have reversed much of their influence. The conclusion is that historical female leadership continues to affect modern representation, though shaped by institutional change.

This article offers a behavioral ecological approach to the study of child training practicies. Gender differences in child training are discussed in light of evolutionary theory, and the author suggests training is likely tailored to promote the reproductive success of each gender. Generally, boys are trained to be more aggressive, stronger, and self-reliant; girls are trained to be more hard-working, responsible, obedient, and sexually restrained. Gender differences in child training frequently vary with degree of polygyny and/or social stratification in a society.

This article offers an analysis of the rape of women cross-culturally, positing that rape is present under certain cultural circumstances. The author tests for correlations between rape and aspects of sexual repression, group violence, childrearing, and ideologies of male dominance. There are significant associations between male sexual violence and other types of violence, as well as between rape and ideologies of male dominance.

A feminist critique of ethnographic information is tested to determine if the gender of fieldworkers or coders has a significant effect on the reliability of data regarding women's status. Findings indicate that there is no male bias in coding. With regard to male versus female ethnographers, only a few results (no more than chance) found any evidence of possible bias, but they are all in the same direction with female ethnographers more favorable. Author suggests that any bias will be lessened by using more specific coding scales.