Human Planet - where are the women?

[runningaftertops]

Just musing really, would love to hear what other people think. I know this has been out for a while, but I've only just got around to watching a couple of episodes. I was really looking forward to it, and now I've seen 2 1/2 episodes I'm feeling quite disappointed.

(The following is with disclaimer I haven't seen the whole series yet)

It is billed as 'human planet' but nearly all the people featured in it are men. Mainly each episode seems to be around how 'humans survive' in different terrains, but then focus primarily on (men/boys) hunting. Even when the narrator says meat is not the primary part of the diet (due to the difficulty obtaining it, for example in the grasslands episode the two male hunters wait nearly a week to catch their prey), there isn't really mention of what else people survive on. I'm assuming a mixture of farming, gathering, plants and smaller prey as well. Also where do people get their water from? So far this hasn't been featured at all. Is this because that is work done by women?

Women only seem to be featured in the background so far apart from one woman who was featured because she was breastfeeding a monkey (!) and there were a couple of girls playing with live snakes and being shown wrapping them round their wrists like bracelets. Even where there was a bit on three children collecting and killing tarantulas it was two boys and a girl and told from the boy's POV. Another woman is shown watching her husband climbing a tree for honey.

It's left me with loads of questions. How do people in these societies organise themselves on a daily basis? What are the primary sources of food/drink and who obtains them? How do they look after children? What stories do they tell? The heavy focus on hunting seems to exclude most other things. Surely there is more to looking at how people live in different climates than purely hunting when it is not the only or even primary part of people's diets? Is it because the (apparently male) producer/director think these are the only interesting/exciting things to show? There was one bit where (mainly men) gathered for a fesitval to show off their costumes but was again told from the male POV (although there seemed to be women dancing in the background) and from the perspective of two men hunting a bird for it's feathers then one of them joking/bragging about how he has 6-7 women lining up to sleep with him when they see his costume.

I think what I've seen of the series so far reinforces stereotypes that men did/do all the interesting and important stuff and women are kind of in the background looking after the babies and not much else. A quick google last night showed some pages which suggest that women historically have done much of the hunting (never mind the other work necessary to survive like gather water). So is it even the case that men do all the hunting for example or just the ones the editors/producers picked to show? Whichever way, to me this series is so male dominated because our culture values the activities carried out by men - the unspoken assumption behind this series seems to be women's lives are boring and not worth showing. It's a shame as the series itself is stunning in terms of the setting and landscapes, and lots of it is interesting. I'd just like to see a more rounded picture.

I know next to nothing about anthropology or archaeology so if anyone has any good introductory links to books/sites where I can explore all this a bit more I'd be really grateful.

[runningaftertops]

Sorry for length - got a bit carried away. I have got to add there was one scene where three men just walked up to about 15 lions and scared them away so they could steal their catch. That was pretty jaw dropping.

Another question - what do people do about other bits of life apart form eating/drinking? E.g. what medicines do they use? What are the birth/death rituals and traditions? What about spiritual beliefs, culture, art? Why can't some of these things be explored in the context of how humans have shaped and been shaped by diverse terrains?

[messyisthenewtidy]

Running, I remember watching an episode of either Human or Frozen Planet which was about how the men hunted eggs down the side of cliffs. There were a couple of shots of women with the children, but left me wanting to know more about what the women did.

It annoys me too that women's work is so left out. Planting crops, producing textiles, raising children are traditionally the work of women and it would be interesting to see how techniques and attitudes vary between culture, but I've never seen a documentary that reports on that type of thing. It's as if film-makers believe that women's work is monolithic and that hunting (even though/when it doesn't usually account for the majority of the diet) is the be all and end all.

The book that introduced me to the whole issue of women's place in evolutionary history (and reportedly changed the term "hunter" to "hunter-gatherer") was Descent of Woman by Elaine Morgan.

You might also want to read Women's work by Elizabeth Barber which is a really interesting look at the history of women in textiles.

Happy reading.

[MiniTheMinx]

sounds interesting, is it BBC? off to have a look.

[Helxi]

If, for example, an hour long programme is going to be based on the calorific (and not nutritional) value of the food gathered then you might end up watching berries being picked for 40 minutes.

Sounds thrilling.

[Whatmeworry]

YY Elaine Morgan - she wrote some fascinating stuff, often just by asking obvious questions.. Got me into the whole evolutionary biollogy/anthropology arena.

Not seen this show, but BBC's Walking with Cavemen was quite balanced.

[CardgamesFTW]

Sounds like it should have been titled "Manly Planet of Manly Hunting."
Women do things like: Fishing, gathering, hunting smaller animals, agriculture, play important religious roles, weaving, house-making, etc etc.
But yes, I frequently see a focus on only the men whenever there is a documentary about tribal people or the ancient past. Women are important and interesting too, not just the dudes. The reason we aren't shown isn't that women never do anything interesting or important.

[MiniTheMinx]

Thank you all, I have just purchased the Elaine Morgan book, very interested in this whole area.

Women were central to our survival, we are now, we always have been. I think the problem is that too much academic study and research in the past was male centric. Written by men largely to glorify themselves. Hopefully now women are starting to redress the balance.

[chibi]

i think the title gives it away - 'human planet'.

much of what i have observed of the cultures i have lived in has led me to conclude that women aren't generally seen as human, or if they are, a kind of 'junior human'. as such, our stories, our lives, our place in history will never be seen as interesting or as important as actual people's - that is to say, men- except to a very niche audience

[runningaftertops]

Thanks for the replies. I'll look up those books messy - just what I was looking for thanks!

Mini yes, it's BBC, which actually I think has annoyed me more to know this has been funded by taxpayers money. If you have lovefilm subscription you can watch them all on there on the instant streaming thingy. The BBC link is: BBC

The other thing in it was the language does tend to focus on 'masters' of the environment etc etc.

The episodes Ive seen were the jungle one, the grasslands one and I'm part way through the mountains one (15 mins in so far the story has been about a man teaching his son to hunt a fox with an eagle.)

cardgames yes - this documentury is contemporary, but it would be nice to see things about women's life in the ancient (and more recent) past as well. It's that sort of thing that used to really interest and inspire me and then I kind of gave up for ages - got put off by a very anglo and male-centric history degree.

[runningaftertops]

Another copy of Elaine Morgan book ordered!

[MiniTheMinx]

Maybe it would be good to suggest it for a book club, we can redress the fact that women have been written out of history and evolution.

[Whatmeworry]

Sounds like it should have been titled "Manly Planet of Manly Hunting

"Planet Of The Menz" :)

How do people in these societies organise themselves on a daily basis? What are the primary sources of food/drink and who obtains them? How do they look after children? What stories do they tell? The heavy focus on hunting seems to exclude most other things. Surely there is more to looking at how people live in different climates than purely hunting when it is not the only or even primary part of people's diets?

As a generalisation, my take over quite a bit of reading is the story is basically one of increasing the efficiency of energy extraction from the environment.

The difference between bare subsistence and doing well in early societies was learning how to catch and eat meat, owing to its calorific efficiency. Men being bigger and stronger - and more functionally redundant (A marginal society can afford to lose men, but not women if it wants to maximise next generation breeding) - were better off being sent to do or die in bringing home the bacon/beef/buffalo/whatever.

The biggest issue women always have had to deal with is childcare, which means minimising risk to both mother and child, so its probably that above al othesr that kept them back at "home", whatever it was.

Women were probably responsible for a lot of the slow burn innovation - genetic modification of plants, more efficient tools for food energy extraction etc, so probably brought about the bulk of the agricultural revolution.

Agricultural society split work into heavy duty farm labour - done by men - and the large number of "other" backup functions which allowed less risky childcare. Boys were sent out to do the lower strength/higher risk stuff as they are more redundant (shephers/herders out on the wild plains), girls helped their mothers,

.....and so it continued.

[runningaftertops]

YY to book club, was just thinking of suggestion it at local group I go to. Could be really interesting.

whatme it's interesting what you say aout women modifying planets as in the grasses episode they did make reference to the way we have breed plants (rice, wheat etc) but dwelled more on the changes to landscape as a result, e.g. the huge rice terraces in china. I was really interested in this as in my ignorance I didn't know these '7 grains which feed 7 billion' (quoting from memory from the programme so may be slightly off) were even modified by humans. I have always wondered just how people knew to make bread from wheat etc etc... I just find it all interesting.

Oh and snorted at 'MAnly Planet of Manly Hunting' and 'PLanet of the MEnz' :)

[Whatmeworry]

I was really interested in this as in my ignorance I didn't know these '7 grains which feed 7 billion' (quoting from memory from the programme so may be slightly off) were even modified by humans.

None of the grain cereals started out that way, they were bred by humans over generations to give better yields. Ditto animal domestication.

[runningaftertops]

Have now watched the one on mountains. Out of 7 stories only one was about a woman: an old, blind woman with cataracts from the UV rays being shown carried to a mobile hospital where a (male) doctor performed eye surgery to restore her sight.

The others were all of men/boys varoiusly: catching bats, hunting with birds of prey, performing a sky burial, trying to scare monkeys away from crops, mining sulpher, and setting off controlled avalanches.

Bearing in mind it said 7 million people live up in the Himalaya alone, I'm sure there could have been one or two other interesting, insightful things to show which featured women or girls?

I'm a bit depressed now.

[messyisthenewtidy]

"If, for example, an hour long programme is going to be based on the calorific (and not nutritional) value of the food gathered then you might end up watching berries being picked for 40 minutes.

Sounds thrilling."


Yes Helxi - that's exactly what we're asking for

I'm so glad you've ordered that book Running and Mini! Be happy to discuss it afterwards. I had to write an essay on it for an exam once and researched the background to it: it was written during the second wave feminism in the 70s (she was a young Welsh mum) and was widely dissed by the male scientific community at the time. However over the decades no one could actually refute it and it ended up gaining credence. In the end Attenborough did a documentary supporting it. Now she has an OBE.

[Helxi]

My apologies, I should have included the enthralling activities of planting crops and looking after children.

[messyisthenewtidy]

Maybe boring to you Helxi, but not to others. And what makes you think watching men hunt is necessarily so fascinating?

At the end of the day, it's not about which one is more interesting to whoever, it's about BALANCE. Men AND women make a contribution to the functioning of these societies, so both should be included. Balance, that's all.

[runningaftertops]

Not boring to me either. If you read through the posts, there's been talk of a whole range of activities, not just the ones you mention helxi As messy says, we're talking about balance and valuing the contribution of women rather than apparently pretending they don't exist.