It Wasn't Feminism That Killed the Neanderthals

By Caryl Rivers, Women's eNews. Posted December 18, 2006.

Anthropologists who suggest early humans survived by dint of separate gender roles are grabbing headlines, displaying the media's fondness for evidence -- however dubious -- of the species being hardwired for male dominance.

Did Homo sapiens survive because they were a prehistoric version of "Leave It to Beaver," while Neanderthals perished because they practiced an early brand of feminism?

Did unisex hunting doom the big bipeds, while male Homo sapiens played the part of Ice Age Ward Cleaver, marching off to hunt big game while June tidied up the cave in her pearls? Did this behavior ensure that humans would take over the world?