Female Warriors

1
Female Warriors?
By Nancy Cannady
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Brian Haydens (of Simon Frazer University)
research of thirty-three hunter-gather societies
showed

• The correlation between low status for females
  and more deaths due to armed combat was
  unexpectedly high.
• The reasons for overwhelming male dominance in
  societies where warfare is pronounced seem
  relatively straightforward.
• The lives of group members depend to a greater
  degree on males and male assessment of social
  political conditions.
• Male tasks during times of warfare are simply
  more critical to the survival of everyone that
  is female work.

3
Men Or Women?Who Is The Weakest Link?

• Qualities of a man
• aggressive
• fearless
• better hunters
• no remorse
• anatomical different
• physiological superior
• muscle power

4
What About Women?

• HUNTING AND GATHERING SOCIETIES
• ( 1.)WOMEN GOT PREGNANT
• ( 2.)WOMEN LACKED STRENGTH
• (3.)WOMEN SUFFERED OPPRESSION

5
Modern Women
Marvin Harriss says that women in modern times
have fought along side men as guerrillas and
terrorists.
WOMEN CAN USE FIREARMS
Women have been excepted as police
officers,prison guards, and graduates of military
academies.
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WOMEN IN THE DAHOMEY ARMY
5,000 women warriors served in this army from
the West African kingdom of Dahomey. 2,000 of
these women lived inside the kings compound and
acted as his personal body guards. The rest of
these women warriors served as scouts, porters,
drummers, and litter-bearers rather than as
direct combatants. During several recorded
battles the women fought as fiercely and as
effectively as the men. Their principle arms
were muskets and blunderbusses(an old fashion
short gun with large bore and flaring mouth).
Harris states that the women warriors in the
Dahomey army were a success because they were
not in war-making bands and villages. The
populations of bands and villages were too small
to maintain a professional standing army. They
lacked centralized leadership and the economic
resources needed to train, feed, house, and
discipline a standing army. (Male or female)
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Male Oppression
AMONG BAND AND VILLAGE SOCIETIES, THE MORE
WARFARE THERE WAS, THE MORE WOMEN SUFFERED FROM
MALE OPPRESSION!
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THE POPULATIONS OF BANDS AND VILLAGES

• THEY WERE TOO SMALL TO MAINTAIN A PROFESSIONAL
  ARMY.
• THEY LACKED ECONOMIC RESOURCES TO TRAIN, FEED,
  HOUSE AND DISCIPLINE AN ARMY.
• THEY WERE DEPENDENT ON BOWS AND ARROWS, SPEARS,
  AND CLUBS RATHER THAN ON FIREARMS.

9
DIAMOND SAYS

• AMONG LARGE TRIBES , THOSE WITH STRONGER BIG MEN
  TEND TO HAVE AN ADVANTAGE OVER SMALLER GROUPS
• BAND ORGANIZATION IS OFTEN DESCRIBED AS
  EGALITARIAN
• THE TERM EGALITARIAN DOES NOT MEAN ALL BAND
  MEMBERS ARE EQUAL.
• THE TERM MEANS THAT IN ANY BAND, THE LEADERSHIP
  IS INFORMAL, AND ACQUIRED THOUGH QUALITIES SUCH
  AS PERSONALITY, STRENGTH, INTELLIGENCE, AND
  FIGHTING SKILLS.

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THE BAND
LEADERSHIP TENDS TO SHIFT FROM ONE PERSON TO
ANOTHER. THESE SHIFTS APPEAR TO BE ASSOCIATED
WITH THE NATURE OF THE SOCIAL SITUATIONS THAN
WITH THE NATURE OF PERSONS.
THE MOST RUDIMENTARY FORM OF POLITICAL SOCIETY
IS THE BAND, TYPICALLY ASSOCIATED WITH HUNTERING
AND GATHERING SOCIETIES.
POLITICAL LEADERSHIP RESTS UPON INFLUENCE
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ROLE OF THE ELITES
THE AMOUNT OF POWER AND CONTROL EXERCISED BY THE
ELITE VARIES ACROSS SOCIETIES AND THROUGH TIME.
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REAL WARRIOR WOMEN OR ANCIENT MYTH?
NEW BURIAL MOUNDS RECENTLY OPENED OUTSIDE THE
TOWN OF POKROVKA CONTAINED THE REMAINS OF WOMEN,
SOME THOUGHT TO BE OF GREAT STATION. THEY WERE
BURIED IN FULL BATTLE DRESS AND WITH AN
ASSORTMENT OF WEAPONS AND OTHER ITEMS OF WAR
LYING BESIDE THEM.
SOME EVIDENCE SEEMS TO CONFIRM THAT CERTAIN
CULTURES HELD WOMEN IN HIGH ESTEEM, SOME EVEN
RIDING ALONGSIDE MEN INTO BATTLE
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THE FIRST TIME IT WAS FATHERS, THE LAST TIME IT
WAS SONS IN BETWEEN YOUR HUSBANDS MARCHED AWAY
WITH DRUMS AND GUNS AND YOU NEVER THOUGHT TO
QUESTION,YOU JUST WENT ON WITH YOUR LIVES AND ALL
THEY TAUGHT YOU WHO TO BE WAS MOTHERS, DAUGHTERS,
WIVES (THE CORRIES)