The following is a condensed version of an article written by Emily M. Long for Women in Archaeology. A link to the full article will be provided at the bottom.

Since women make up half of the population, it’s important to think about how women contributed to civilization throughout history. Otherwise, as archaeologists, we would only get half of the picture. In the past, we just assumed women didn’t play as much as a role as men, but you know what they say about ‘assume’ and I doubt anyone wants to be an ‘ass.’ Feminist thought provided, and still does, a way to give us a bigger picture on the past and way to fight our assumptions of the past. Gender archaeology includes feminist thought, giving archaeologists a way to look at how past people may have created specific roles for each other; it gives a way to see how people may have been marginalized or treated as less important. Again, it’s all about making sure we give everyone in the past an equal voice.

Consequently, feminist and gender archaeology:

1. Offers a means to review how archaeology has been conducted (i.e. find biases, the voices that have been ignored, etc)
2. Provides a method to study women and other marginalized groups
3. Focuses on gender, but also considers gender with sexuality, race, and class.

The key issues:

1. Human agency ignored (i.e. what people?)
2. Applying modern-day examples of societies to the past (i.e. women were only gatherers and never held important positions)
3. Major under-representation of women in archaeology

Link to the article: What is Feminist/Gender Archaeology? A Nutshell Perspective