Sexual dimorphism in stature and women's work: A phylogenetic cross-cultural analysis

Abstract

The following cultural variables were tested for their association with sexual dimorphism: sexual division of labor, type of subsistence (hunting and agriculture), and polygyny. The transmission of these traits among populations was investigated. All the traits were found to be associated with phylogeny, indicating that they are inherited from mother to daughter populations. A cross-cultural comparative method was used which controls for the statistical effects of similarity due to common ancestry (Galton's problem). Cross-cultural variation in sexual dimorphism in stature is negatively associated with women's contribution to subsistence. Women are taller, relative to men, in societies where women contribute more to food production. This may be because female nutritional status is better in these societies. No relationship was found between sexual dimorphism and other aspects of subsistence or polygyny. These results are discussed in relation to other studies of sexual dimorphism in modern and archaeological populations, and in relation to cross-cultural variation in sex-biased parental investment.

A phylogenetic approach to cultural evolution

“…Yet empirical studies show that adaptive cultural traits also often have a strong phylogenetic signature [10,11,34,35], presumably because parents who transmit such traits to their offspring will have higher reproductive success.…”

“…Whereas earlier studies used traditional language classifications [33,40,41], more recent studies have used the phylogenetic language trees described above [38,42,43]. Several phylogenetic comparative methods have been used in crosscultural analysis; Maddison's Concentrated changes test, which uses parsimony, has been used to investigate social organization in East Africa (Figure 2; [41]) and Felsenstein's method of comparative analysis using independent contrasts [44,45] has been used to study the coevolution of work patterns and sexual dimorphism in stature [34].…”

“…In early studies [34,40], attempts were made to address this problem by using two or three alternative genetic and linguistic trees, thereby incorporating a range of hypotheses about past relationships among groups. It is now possible to address this problem in a more principled way, by using Bayesian MCMC techniques [48].…”

Gauging differential health among the sexes at Windover (8Br246) using the Western Hemisphere Health Index

“…Holden and Mace (1999) found correlations with stature and contribution to subsistence. Female stature from populations around the world was assessed in order to determine whether sexual dimorphism is related to the roles each sex plays in food procurement.…”

“…There have been an increasing number of studies that examine differential health among the sexes (Haviland 1967, Holden & Mace 1999, Sofaer Derevenski 2000, Slaus 2000, Prowse et al 2005. This research was part of a dissertation project that examined the health of an Archaic population from Florida through the application of the Western Hemisphere Health Index (Steckel & Rose 2002).…”