Summary:

Tiina Kuokkanen, The men hunted and the women gathered? Gendered labour and gender archaeology in Finnish archaeology

The division of labour is one of the most important research interests in gender archaeology. What work did men and women do in past societies? How are those activities valued by nowadays researches? Gender archaeology tries to avoid obvious assumptions in gender roles. It is critical to understand that the division of labour is not absolute. I have studied the attitude to sex and gender among Finnish archaeologists. I have also studied Finnish approaches to gender archaeology. My sources consisted of fifteen archaeological studies.

Gender archaeological discourse in Finland appeared mostly in scholarly theses and studies at the turn of the 21st century. Generally very little attention has been paid to sex and gender. Because researchers who have explored social questions are very few, not many sources have taken gender into consideration. If gender is taken into consideration, it is usually looked at through the world view of our own culture.

 

Faravid 32/2008