The Evolution of Gendered Political Behavior: Contributions from Feminist Evolutionists

This commentary discusses Rebecca Hannagan’s article “Gendered Political Behavior: A Darwinian Feminist Approach,” an interdisciplinary examination of how human female social and political behaviors are unique and have impacted the evolution of human societies. She reexamines the anthropological literature on egalitarian foraging societies to focus on female autonomy and leadership, and connects women’s evolved skills with their contemporary leadership experiences. As Hannagan’s work demonstrates, Darwinian feminists challenge sexist stereotypes from a variety of sub-disciplines that use evolutionary perspectives, build upon and expand the earlier ground-breaking work of other feminist evolutionists, and blaze new trails using the latest technology and models to gain further understanding of human behavior that will help promote greater equality and opportunities for women.