This book is concerned with explaining variation in the status of women. The author, after measuring over 50 aspects of status, first concludes that status is not a unitary concept. Therefore the author looks at 10 different domains of status. Many traditional explanations are not supported; most support is found for the influence of social complexity which generally lowers female status.

This article builds upon gender inequality theory to examine childhood gender inequality in preindustrial societies. Multivariate and cluster analysis are used.

This book examines population growth rate and its correlates by testing 274 hypotheses (derived from multiple theories) with an 18-society sample. Forty-one of these hypotheses were significant at the .05 level, leading the author to accept these relationships as reflective of the real world. The 274 hypotheses are grouped into 51 broader hypotheses, and marked by (*) where relationships are significant as designated by the author or by significance p < 0.05.

A materialist approach is used to study the status of women in hunter-gatherer groups. Techno-ecological factors are tested as predictors of women's status.

This article offers a behavioral ecological approach to the study of child training practicies. Gender differences in child training are discussed in light of evolutionary theory, and the author suggests training is likely tailored to promote the reproductive success of each gender. Generally, boys are trained to be more aggressive, stronger, and self-reliant; girls are trained to be more hard-working, responsible, obedient, and sexually restrained. Gender differences in child training frequently vary with degree of polygyny and/or social stratification in a society.

This study focuses on the relationship between women's power/status and divorce. Tests of gender variables with measures of divorce highlights the importance of sexual equality in divorce frequency as well as the effect of division of labor on divorce.

This article examines three theories regarding the lack of participation by women in community religious roles. Empirical analysis suggests that only resource theory has predictive power. Most clearly it suggests that women are more likely to be shamans in societies in which they are highly influential in kin networks but maintain minimal control of property. Neither gynephobia nor the presence of sex-differentiated social spheres appears associated with the prohibition of women’s participation in religious roles.

This article presents a materialist approach to the study of women's status. The authors test a Marxist-feminist theory which situates women's status as the end effect in a causal chain that begins with the mode of production and is mediated by the extent to which women control production. Results point to separate, rather than confounding, effects of these two factors on the status of women.

This paper explores societal-level mechanisms associated with women’s participation in and exclusion from political life. Analysis suggests there are two statistically independent types of female political participation: involvement in decision-making and the existence of positions controlled by or reserved for women. Multiple regression analysis identifies several social-structural, psychocultural, and behavioral correlates for both types of female political participation and explanatory theory is discussed.

A feminist critique of ethnographic information is tested to determine if the gender of fieldworkers or coders has a significant effect on the reliability of data regarding women's status. Findings indicate that there is no male bias in coding. With regard to male versus female ethnographers, only a few results (no more than chance) found any evidence of possible bias, but they are all in the same direction with female ethnographers more favorable. Author suggests that any bias will be lessened by using more specific coding scales.