How Farming Shaped the Leadership of Women.

The story of humanity is, in many ways, the story of women.

Yet for thousands of years, a single invention—the plow—reshaped human evolution and deepened the divide between men and women.

  From our earliest mammalian roots, women bore and nurtured children, while men, generally larger and stronger, undertook physically demanding and risk-laden tasks. Across cultures, these biological differences laid the foundation for the earliest division of labor.   Men formed broad coalitions for hunting and conflict; women, tied to the home and young children, built smaller but deeper social networks. Over generations, these patterns hardened into stereotypes—social rules masquerading as destiny.   Then came the plow, and with it, a profound shift. Unlike the hoe or digging stick, the plow demanded immense upper-body strength. As it spread across early farming societies, it pushed men into the fields and confined women to domestic work.   A simple farming tool became a force that shaped gender roles for centuries. Studies across more than 1,200 nonindustrial societies show how plow-based cultures produced modern descendants with more male-skewed beliefs about leadership. The effect still echoes today. Men remain dominant across institutions, politics, and industry—just as most male mammals dominate their groups. Fewer than 7% of Fortune 500 companies are led by women. Globally, fewer than two dozen women serve as heads of state or government. And in nearly 90% of the traditional societies ever studied, political leadership was exclusively male.

Yet the story is not one of inevitability; it is one of transformation.

Despite the weight of history, women continue to rise—lionesses in boardrooms, parliaments, and nations. Since Sri Lanka’s Sirimavo Bandaranaike broke the barrier in 1960, 115 women have served as president, prime minister, or chancellor across 75 countries—from Brazil to Bangladesh.   Gender equality surged between the 1960s and 1990s, reshaping workforces, economies, and expectations, before plateauing in recent decades.   But progress creates momentum. Research shows that when women attain national executive office, public attitudes shift. In countries led by female presidents or prime ministers, people—especially women—become more politically engaged, more willing to vote, and more open to female leadership at all levels.  

Understanding this long evolutionary arc is not about looking backward. It is about empowering the future.

By recognizing how deeply male-skewed leadership is woven into our past, we place ourselves in a stronger position to rewrite the next chapter—and to open doors of power that should have never been closed.   There is much to catch up on. But evolution is not destiny. Leadership, now more than ever, belongs to women too.