The intro was in my feed from The Conversation! I hadn't noticed how badly written it was - probably an intern, let's be nice. I agree that the use of 'feminisation' is irritating. It's bound to be picked up by the daily mail other media as 'soft skills', but this isn't what the report actually says. They're correlating reduced testosterone levels with increased planning ability, task-sharing, cunning and creativity. According to this theory, females chose to reproduce with the smarter & faster men who were less like thugs. This suggests the lower-testosterone guys were better at protecting & providing, therefore the genetic propensity for super-testosterone was negatively selected.
I found it interesting for several reasons. It's never been clear why earlier human species gave way to modern humans: most were taller, more sturdily built and had bigger brains. If this theory's correct that cave paintings and sophisticated weapons such as spear-throwers began to appear as humans became lighter and flatter of forehead, then it does suggest that selecting out the more testosterone-fuelled strains afforded humans the security to indulge in experimentation and artwork. You can't do either of those when every day's another battle. And you can do more of those things when you're working as a team.
There's also this remarkable study, where a troop of baboons lost all its 'alpha' males (they helped themselves to a pile of discarded meat, which turned out to be infected with TB.) Surviving members chose to instigate a more equal and democratic culture. The new order has lasted two and a half generations, with the new style being defended against incoming would-be alphas. It must, therefore, be advantageous to the troop. It'd be interesting to find out whether their average testosterone level is any lower than other baboon troops!
I am convinced that gender roles developed with agricultural settlements. More food means more babies; more babies means less agile women; that means women on the homestead while men go in search of trade. All the same, gender tropes are inaccurate because male skeletons found at agricultural communities from early to late middle ages show as much wear & tear from hoeing & grinding, etc, as female ones.
So much of gender inequality is justified by assumptions about role divisions in our history. I welcome findings that disprove them.