Lucy’s Daughters

Van Zanden argues that it was only with the rise of sedentary societies in the Middle East and Central Asia that gender inequality first took shape. Civilizations developing on the peripheries, meanwhile, maintained a greater level of gender equality, and the religions which developed in each region either conformed or co-evolved to mirror these pre-existing gender dynamics. Rather than technology, it was women’s stronger economic position during the Middle Ages in places like northwestern Europe or Japan that drove economic development and the emergence of democratic political systems. Riding on the prosperity of the industrial revolution, however, the 18th and 19th centuries saw the rise of domesticity and the bread-winner model, confining women largely to the home. It wasn’t until the 20th century that women began regaining their place in the workforce. That women ‘belong’ in the kitchen is then a relatively recent fabrication.

In one sense, Van Zanden provides a much-needed corrective to our picture of economic history by finally including women’s agency. However, Lucy’s Daughters is also about the far-reaching consequences – social, economic, political – of these historical roots. Van Zanden demonstrates that gender inequality is one of the main causes of poverty and political suppression.

• Extends from the Palaeolithic to the present, from the Middle East to the United Kingdom, from Indonesia to Japan

• Told from various angles, including religion, art, criminality, even international sport, to paint a panorama of gender relations and gender inequality

• Nuanced and accessibly written, with an eye for the different kinds of patriarchy throughout time and place