On Peacocks and Peahens: A Cross-Cultural Investigation of the Effects of Economic Development on Sex Differences in Dress

Abstract

The proposition that men dressed at least as elaborately as women in preindustrial cultures was investigated using data from the Human Relations Area Files. Content analyses of the materials listed under Trait 291 (normal garb—including ordinary dress and description of garments for men and women) and Trait 301 (ornament-including jewelry and hair ornaments) were performed. A global judgment was made for each culture regarding which sex wore the most complex or ornate clothing and ornament. A total of 161 cultures had sufficient information to form this judgment and also were coded for percentage of the subsistence economy dependent on gathering, hunting, fishing, animal husbandry and agriculture in Murdock's Ethnographic Atlas. Chi-square analyses, non-parametric correlations, comparison of means and multiple discriminant function analyses were used to analyze the data. Results indicated that the economic activities characteristic of agrarian societies (animal husbandry and agriculture) were associated with ornate females. Less advanced economic activities characteristic of folk societies were associated with ornate males and/or no sex differences in dress.

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