Why did women often provide most of the food consumed by Aboriginal bands?

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Aboriginal people of Galiwnku Island in Australia — Australian Aboriginal peoples Aboriginal people from Galiwnku Island gathering to watch the proceedings at which Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formally apologized to the Aboriginal peoples of Australia for their mistreatment under earlier Australian governments, February 2008.

In traditional Aboriginal society, the division of labour was sex-based, with men primarily responsible for hunting large game and women focused on collecting vegetable foods and hunting small game, such as lizards.1

Because of this division, women were the primary providers of food for their bands, contributing an estimated 60 to 80 percent of the total food consumed, depending on the specific region and season. While men’s hunting efforts were often tied to broader networks of kinship obligations—where large game was butchered and distributed among the group—the food gathered by women provided a consistent and reliable nutritional foundation for the band.1