Female Status and Cultural Evolution: A Study in Ethnographer Bias

Abstract

The theory that female status will increase with societal complexity is tested. Two independent measures of female status are compared with a measure of societal complexity. Both tests produce significant results, but in a direction opposite that of the hypothesis. With increases in societal complexity, there is a decrease in female status. Four data quality control factors were routinely applied to test for the presence of systematic eth nographer bias. The DQC tests suggest that the negative relationship be tween female status and complexity is a spurious one, which can be plausi bly explained by the ethnographer's sex, length of jield stay, and ability to speak the native language, as well as the century in which the fieldwork was done. Further analysis suggests that unbiased reporting of female sta tus is possible by female ethnographers and by male ethnographers who have worked under optimal field conditions (field stays of over one year, plus native language familiarity). Among this group of observers, the orig inal hypothesis receives support: high female status is found at all levels of complexity, while low female status is found primarily among less com plex societies.