Sexual Division of Labor in African Agriculture: A Network Autocorrelation Analysis

A model of causes and consequences of sexual division of labor in agriculture is tested using a sample of African societies. Crop type and the presence or absence of slavey are shown to be effective predictors of the degree of female contribution to agn'cultural subsistence, and the degree of polygyny is shown to be affected by female agricultural contribution and the form of residence. Autocorrelation effects are found and are shown to be a consequence of Bantu societies having higher female participation in agriculture than would otherwise be expected. This effect z i an example of one of the kinds of phenomena that anthropologists have referred to a. s Galton's problem. [sexual division of labor, cultural ecology, Galton's Problem, Africa]