Suppressing women is (also) an evolutionary mistake.
Who is afraid of "evolution"? Despite the current intelligent and passionate debates about discrimination, it is noticeable that one of the most crucial questions is being left out: How did it come to be that women have to fight for equality in the first place? For two thousand years, the Bible provided the answer: because Eve trusted the serpent rather than God, all her descendants must be subordinate to men. Biology also long placed the blame on women, stating that they were inherently the weaker sex. No wonder an Eve taboo was established, and the topic of evolution is avoided. It could be assumed that something about the prevailing injustice is "natural." Not at all! The truth about Eve, both biblical and biological, reveals that the success of our species cannot be understood without women. And their suppression was far from normal. The cooperative, albeit delicate, relationship between genders is our evolutionary secret to success.
Carel van Schaik and Kai Michel take a look at two million years of human history in their book. They show how the relationship between women and men evolved and what significantly disrupted the balance. New insights from evolutionary biology, genetics, archaeology, ethnology, and religious studies shed light on the complex process that caused suffering for women and wasn't beneficial for men either. The successful authors study the behavior of our primate relatives, inspect fantastic prehistoric sanctuaries, and delve into the Bible. They explain why fidelity is a male invention and why sexuality was demonized. They reveal how marriage, family, and spheres of power have been contaminated to this day. The truth about Eve can help finally put an end to the gender crisis.
"A substantial and magnificent book – full of surprising, fascinating, important, and thought-provoking ideas." Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize winner
