Put the women in charge

For several years, we've been hearing about the bonobo who are peace-loving primates, unlike their aggressive cousins the chimpanzee.   The bonobo are cooperative rather than combative, and they make love instead of making war.

Now there is a report from Emory anthropology graduate student Amy Cobden, who studies the bonobo in the Republic of Congo.   She has observed behavior that suggests that they actually have empathy for each others' feelings -- or at least a high degree of loyalty to their fellow bonobo.   Her observation was the lengths to which a group of bonobo went in repeatedly trying to free one of the males in their group from a snare that had been set to catch another species.    Several tried unsuccessfully to free him from the trap and some even went back the next day to check on him.

It was pointed out that all other species of animals simply leave behind any one of their species that gets caught or hurt.

One of the main differences in bonobo society is that the females are the leaders, in contrast to the male-dominated chimps.   It may be over-simplified and reductionistic to explain the differences on whether the leaders are male of female, but at least that is the situation.   Are they by nature peace-loving and empathic and therefore tend to choose female leaders?   Or does having female leaders result in policies that tend to foster the development of peaceful and loving customs?    Nature vs nurture?

This reminded me of an interview I heard years ago on NPR of one of the parliamentary leaders in Norway, a woman, who was discussing why their country is among the most generous in government services for children and parents (such as free day-care facilities, parental leave for childbearing and illness, and other benefits).   Asked why she thought Norway was such a leader in family-oriented benefits, she replied, "Oh, it's quite simple.   The majority of our Members of Parliament are women."

What a contrast with our current situation with the Republican's "War on Women," or as the Huffington Post puts it today:  "GOP vs Uteri."    Most blatant is the controversy over mandated contraception coverage in the Affordable Health Care Act.  A congressional committee hearing, chaired by a male Republican, had a panel of men to testify, but no women;  and the one woman the Democrats on the committee had invited to testify was denied the oppostunity.   She's the one Rush Limbaugh insulted so viciously.

I'm not being totally sexist here.   There are plenty of women hawks.  Remember during the 2008 campaign, Hillary Clinton was considered far more hawkish than Barack Obama.   It is not a male/female polarity -- or at least the polarization has a wide overlap -- but in general women are more likely to be empathic and cooperative, and men are more likely to be aggressive and competitive.

I personally think Obama is close to the ideal middle -- a man who can be assertive and strong who also has a large tender, empathic and cooperative nature.

Ralph