There’s something amiss with The Lion King — aside from talking, singing animals. Disney’s smash hit of stage and screen tells the tale of young male lion Simba’s rise to power. But, in the real circle of life, lionesses lead.Â
So what do Lions, hyenas, killer whales and elephants have in common? They’re members of an exclusive club where female bosses are the norm.
A whopping 99% of our human DNA is the same as that of our closest primate cousins – chimps and bonobos. But while chimps tend to be male-led, bonobos take their lead from females. Females make the travel plans, eat first, because they organise dinner. Conflict is much less common in bonobo societies versus their scrappy chimp cousins.
With females at the helm, bonobo society is a lot more chilled out. :)
Humans on the other hand are part of the mammal majority: Our leaders are mostly male. Less than 7 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are female. Worldwide, fewer than two dozen women are heads of state or government, including New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern.
The Plow's Effect
Thanks to our mammalian roots, women bear and nurse babies. Men are generally larger and stronger — just considering upper-body strength. These biological realities set the stage for sexual division of labor, common across cultures. Men tended to take on riskier endeavours, like battles and big-game hunts, which require coalitions and hierarchical coordination. Tethered to children and homes, women assumed a greater share of domestic
responsibilities, forming fewer but more intimate social ties.
I will blame the invention of the plow for deepening gender divisions, because its use requires substantially more upper-body strength than hoe or stick tilling. This relegated men to fields and women to household labor. From this evolutionary background, sex-based stereotypes emerged, which then became amplified or dampened by the particularities of a given society. The plow’s effects persist even today.
Research runs thin when it comes to what is arguably the ultimate glass ceiling: elected national leadership. Starting in 1960 with Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, 115 women have served as president, prime minister or chancellor of 75 countries, from Brazil to Bangladesh. But, as in the business world, gender gains rose steeply through the 1990s — and then recently reversed course.
As humans we puzzle over the glass ceiling and how to get more women into leadership, could it be possible to learn something from the outliers of the animal kingdom? It’s a controversial idea, but nevertheless worth pondering over.
Size Does Matter
In the dry, thorny forests of Madagascar, lemurs leap between trees with gravity-defying ease. For these primates, there’s no question which sex is dominant. To avoid smacks to the face and bites, males call out submissively when females approach — chattering chi chi chi chi, which is the equivalent of bowing down.
At trees laden with edible fruit, it’s ladies first.
Few mammal females attain this degree of dominance with an animal’s ability to subordinate another through force or threat. Among the roughly 5,500 mammal species, in just a couple of dozen do females routinely outrank males during dominance contests.
In Lemurs Females have traits that are typical of males in other mammal species. Their external genitalia are elongated and their bodies are the same size or slightly larger than a male’s. Lady lemurs also display so-called masculine behaviours: play tussling, marking territory with scent glands and intimidating subordinates with feigned or real cuffs and bites.Â
A similar pattern is found in African spotted hyenas: Females are larger and stronger. High-ranking females keep order in clans of up to 150 members, and comprise the front lines during wars against rival hyena clans or lions.
Social Network
However in spotted hyenas a disproportionate social clout, other than physical strength, fuels female dominance. In most of the matchups, victory goes to whichever animal has more potential allies close enough to call for backup. And, in spotted hyena society, high-ranking females have the most allies.Â
Lets look at #MeToo movement, as a parallel human example, where anyone can get involved, and it doesn’t matter how much brute force you have. These virtual coalitions of women forming are really influencing societal outcomes, so that is leadership, and that directly speaks to what we see in bonobos, hyenas, and these groups that join forces,
Strong female leaders are more likely to emerge when females form cooperative units. This pattern has obvious implications because it suggests that women are more likely to be successful leaders when forming strong coalitions within their social networks. Women may benefit from using social media and fostering coalitions of their own to form strong alliances resembling the boys' network in men. With new technologies, humans are able to overcome these physical barriers, with virtual and in-person coalitions mobilizing and empowering women to overcome these potential barriers.
Motherhood
In sifaka lemurs the researchers found juvenile females won about a quarter of the bouts and adolescents about half, regardless of body size. Adult females who had offspring past weaning age triumphed nearly 100 percent of the time. Sexual maturity and successful motherhood give these females status.
Follow the Wise Matriarchs
Female elephants can live into their 80s in matrilineal societies, comprising up to four generations of mothers and offspring. With the most accumulated wisdom about local resources and dangers, female elders lead group movement and food pursuits.
Killer whales, or orcas, are also one of the few species in which females live decades past menopause. Orca communities especially follow these grandmothers/great-grandmothers, during hard times, like when salmon prey are scarce.
Female elders often serve as important repositories of knowledge, leading group members to important food sources and away from danger. In orcas to elephants, we can see a combination of a long lifespan and groups consisting of multiple generations of individuals belonging to the female lineage, including post-reproductive females with extensive knowledge.
So can we reverse the stereotype of men branded as dominant species? The truth is that raising each other up and channeling the power of collaboration is truly how women can change the equation—and have a lot more fun along the way. :)
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