Okay, hear me out. I think this depiction is greatly influenced by gender roles of the 20th century. I believe early humans had quite small tribes and women were as active in hunting as men - now that I am writing this it dawns on me, that the practice of agriculture means that humans moved past the hunter-gatherer-stage which was (to the best of my knowledge) the reason for the development of gendered duties or roles. Yet, I believe men were more than capable physicly to harvest wheats. And I expect tribes to still be around 30-50 strong, I kinda expect the number of workers still to be so low, that everyone has to do a little bit of everything.
Why did agriculture pave way to gendered roles?
I learned that hunter-gatherer women would breastfeed children up to 5 years of age. During this time they could not get pregnant again. When agriculture became the new hot thing, women could wane their children far earlier and had a pretty reliable source of sustinance, like porridge. Since they could wane children sooner, they could become pregnant again sooner. Thus their duties shifted more towards raising children.
source: https://www.ardsounds.de/episode/urn:ard:episode:cb111b2ab78e5b2d/
Episode “Wie kam die Frau an den Herd, und der Mann an die Macht?” [“Why are women tending the stove and men are in power”] of the German Podcast “Die Großen Fragen in 10 Minuten” [The Big Questions in 10 Minutes] by the WDR (public broadcaster)
Okay, hear me out. I think this depiction is greatly influenced by gender roles of the 20th century. I believe early humans had quite small tribes and women were as active in hunting as men - now that I am writing this it dawns on me, that the practice of agriculture means that humans moved past the hunter-gatherer-stage which was (to the best of my knowledge) the reason for the development of gendered duties or roles. Yet, I believe men were more than capable physicly to harvest wheats. And I expect tribes to still be around 30-50 strong, I kinda expect the number of workers still to be so low, that everyone has to do a little bit of everything.
Why did agriculture pave way to gendered roles?
I learned that hunter-gatherer women would breastfeed children up to 5 years of age. During this time they could not get pregnant again. When agriculture became the new hot thing, women could wane their children far earlier and had a pretty reliable source of sustinance, like porridge. Since they could wane children sooner, they could become pregnant again sooner. Thus their duties shifted more towards raising children.
source: https://www.ardsounds.de/episode/urn:ard:episode:cb111b2ab78e5b2d/ Episode “Wie kam die Frau an den Herd, und der Mann an die Macht?” [“Why are women tending the stove and men are in power”] of the German Podcast “Die Großen Fragen in 10 Minuten” [The Big Questions in 10 Minutes] by the WDR (public broadcaster)
In general, yes, your position is supported by the latest in archeology/anthropology!
But one major exception is depicted here - plowing was overwhelmingly male-dominated in early societies.