Why are men and women different?
A little about the history of "genders"....my theory..assimilated from my readings, National Geographic, Discovery....
When human beings came into existence...nature made male and female...to facilitate reproduction. But this male and female version of homo sapiens did not really look very different. I mean the men did not then have very different physical attributes than women, and vise versa. They only possessed the essential different reproductive organs. What I mean is that men did not have broader shoulders than women, women did not have softer voices than men, men did not have bigger nostrils and women did not have softer hands...so both men and women did not possess those specific physical attributes which make them look different. For example if you see a dog from a distance can you make out whether it is male or female?..without looking at its reproductive parts? Similarly male and female homo sapiens looked similar...then. There were differences of course...females were different enough to attract males into mating..but the differences were not so obvious, they were more subtle. (think of the dogs again...male female...different but similar)
We have an idea of what life was like back then...it was about survival. Hunt and protect. Survive.
The reproductive system worked in such a way that it left the females incapacitated every month or during pregnancies and for a while following deliveries, to take part in many of the day to day activities, mainly hunting and gathering food. The human infant needed to be nursed for several years until it could take on the world by itself and help the family hunt and protect. So the mother was engaged in nursing.
Homo Sapiens were intelligent, and quickly figured out that a little bit of division of labor wouldn't hurt. So the females naturally were given responsibilities of the household stuff...which they could manage even while pregnant/nursing/menstruating, and the males took care of the hunting and the protecting.
Now we know that in the process of evolution of any organism, those parts of the organism, which are not needed to survive or are not put into use, slowly die and the organism evolves and develops that which it needs to survive...(theory of natural selection).
Now, after this division of labor, as human life progressed and our species evolved, male and female gradually became more and more different emotionally and physically mainly as an outcome of this division of labor.
Since the males went to hunt, they developed and retained stronger muscles to chase their prey, broader shoulders to throw arrows or fight the prey, large ears to listen sharply to the noises of the jungle, bigger nostrils so they could breath in more oxygen for their lungs while running, coarser voices to scream at each other from big distances while they hunted in groups, and so on... Thus they evolved into beings we recognize as "men"...even from a distance.
The women on the other hand, developed softer hands, voices, facial features ...to nurse. They lost their muscular built, developed bigger hips, became shorter in height etc etc...
Hunters had to be quick, brutal, cruel, sharp...
Mothers had to be kind, genteel, nurturing...
Males and females gradually evolved into beings different physically, emotionally, mentally...
And now.....after zillions of years, now Men are known to be "man-like" and woman to be "woman-like". But to me it seems the differences are slowly....very slowly....but gradually blurring.
Humans no longer need to hunt in the jungle....no longer need to engage in what we now call "extreme adventure sports" like activities on a daily basis....men are slowly losing their "man-ish" physical attributes. Division of labor is fast disappearing.
Men are becoming fairer, softer looking, cleaner, smoother, smaller, etc etc...and "broad shoulder, strong arms, tall, dark, husky voice, big nose, small eyes etc etc are becoming rare..and the only men we know who posses all of these physical attributes, are from silly romantic novels( mills and boons etc).
And women, who have now chosen to do what men do...not hunt, but earn a living, are becoming smarter..
If we take this theory a little further...then it seems that some zillion years from now, if our species is still around, me thinks, that males and females will not look very different from each other, or think very differently, or feel very differently. Demands of life are now such that both males and females can mostly equally manage. Roles are merging, capabilities are overlapping...
Of course, woman will still reproduce. But men wont need to hunt.
