Human

=== Gender ===
{{Main|Gender|}}

Human societies typically exhibit [[Gender identity|gender identities]] and [[gender role]]s that distinguish between [[Masculinity|masculine]] and [[Femininity|feminine]] characteristics and prescribe the range of acceptable behaviours and attitudes for their members based on their [[sex]].<ref>{{Cite book |chapter=Social Role Theory of Sex Differences and Similarities : A Current Appraisal |date=2000 |chapter-url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781410605245-12/social-role-theory-sex-differences-similarities-current-appraisal |title=The Developmental Social Psychology of Gender |pages=137–188 |publisher=Psychology Press |doi=10.4324/9781410605245-12 |isbn=978-1-4106-0524-5 |access-date=10 June 2022 |archive-date=30 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430212712/https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781410605245-12/social-role-theory-sex-differences-similarities-current-appraisal |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2003 |title=Gender Roles and Society |encyclopedia=Human Ecology: An Encyclopedia of Children, Families, Communities, and Environments |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa barbara, CA |url=https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/soc_facpub/1/ |last=Blackstone |first=Amy |series=Sociology School Faculty Scholarship |page=335 |editor-last=Miller |editor-first=Julia R. |editor2-last=Lerner |editor2-first=Richard M. |editor3-last=Schiamberg |editor3-first=Lawrence B. |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-date=16 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516131905/https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/soc_facpub/1/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The most common categorisation is a [[gender binary]] of [[men]] and [[women]].<ref name="Nadal-re-binary">{{cite book|last=Nadal|first=Kevin L.|title=The SAGE Encyclopedia of Psychology and Gender|year=2017|isbn=978-1483384276|page=401|publisher=SAGE Publications |quote=Most cultures currently construct their societies based on the understanding of gender binary{{snd}}the two gender categorizations (male and female). Such societies divide their population based on biological sex assigned to individuals at birth to begin the process of gender socialization.}}</ref> Some societies recognise a [[third gender]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Herdt |first=Gilbert |url={{GBurl|id=8nf8DwAAQBAJ}} |title=Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-942130-52-9 |location=Princeton, NJ |pages=21–83 |language=en |chapter=Third Sexes and Third Genders |access-date=30 July 2022 }}</ref> or less commonly a fourth or fifth.<ref>{{cite book|last=Trumbach|first=Randolph|year=1994|chapter=London's Sapphists: From Three Sexes to Four Genders in the Making of Modern Culture|title=Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History|editor-last=Herdt|editor-first=Gilbert|pages=111–136|location=New York|publisher=Zone (MIT)|isbn=978-0-942299-82-3}}</ref><ref name="Graham">{{cite web|last=Graham|first=Sharyn|url=http://www.insideindonesia.org/weekly-articles/sulawesis-fifth-gender|title=Sulawesi's fifth gender|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141126200244/http://www.insideindonesia.org/weekly-articles/sulawesis-fifth-gender|archive-date=26 November 2014|website=[[Inside Indonesia]]|date=April–June 2001}}</ref> In some other societies, [[Non-binary gender|non-binary]] is used as an umbrella term for a range of gender identities that are not solely male or female.<ref name="richardsetal">{{Cite journal |last1=Richards |first1=Christina |last2=Bouman |first2=Walter Pierre |last3=Seal |first3=Leighton |last4=Barker |first4=Meg John |author4-link=Meg-John Barker |last5=Nieder |first5=Timo O. |last6=T'Sjoen |first6=Guy |date=2016 |title=Non-binary or genderqueer genders |url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/7279758 |url-status=live |journal=International Review of Psychiatry |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=95–102 |doi=10.3109/09540261.2015.1106446 |pmid=26753630 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626224658/https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/7279758 |archive-date=26 June 2019 |access-date=9 June 2019 |hdl-access=free |s2cid=29985722 |hdl=1854/LU-7279758}}</ref>

Gender roles are often associated with a division of [[social norm|norms]], [[practice (social theory)|practices]], [[clothing|dress]], [[social behavior|behavior]], [[rights]], [[duty|duties]], [[Privilege (social inequality)|privileges]], [[social status|status]], and [[power (social and political)|power]], with men enjoying more rights and privileges than women in most societies, both today and in the past.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Ananthaswamy |first1=Anil|last2=Douglas|first2=Kate |title=The origins of sexism: How men came to rule 12,000 years ago |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23831740-400-the-origins-of-sexism-how-men-came-to-rule-12000-years-ago/ |access-date=7 March 2023 |website=New Scientist |language=en-US}}</ref> As a [[Social constructionism|social construct]],<ref name="www.who.int">{{Cite web |title=What do we mean by "sex" and "gender"? |url=https://apps.who.int/gender/whatisgender/en/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130022356/https://apps.who.int/gender/whatisgender/en/ |archive-date=30 January 2017 |access-date=26 November 2015 |publisher=[[World Health Organization]]}}</ref> gender roles are not fixed and vary historically within a society. Challenges to predominant gender norms have recurred in many societies.<ref>{{cite book |url={{GBurl|id=lc-YBRQkldAC|p=143}} |title=Essential Concepts for Healthy Living |vauthors=Alters S, Schiff W |publisher=[[Jones & Bartlett Publishers]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7637-5641-3 |page=143 |access-date=3 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author-link1=Nicole Fortin |vauthors=Fortin N |year=2005 |title=Gender Role Attitudes and the Labour Market Outcomes of Women Across OECD Countries |journal=Oxford Review of Economic Policy |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=416–438 |doi=10.1093/oxrep/gri024}}</ref> Little is known about gender roles in the earliest human societies. [[Early modern human]]s probably had a range of gender roles similar to that of modern cultures from at least the [[Upper Paleolithic]], while the [[Neanderthal]]s were less sexually dimorphic and there is evidence that the behavioural difference between males and females was minimal.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dobres |first=Marcia-Anne |author-link=Marcia-Anne Dobres |chapter=Gender in the Earliest Human Societies |date=27 November 2020 |chapter-url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781119535812.ch11 |title=A Companion to Global Gender History |pages=183–204 |editor-last=Meade |editor-first=Teresa A. |edition=1 |publisher=Wiley |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781119535812.ch11 |isbn=978-1-119-53580-5 |access-date=10 June 2022 |editor2-last=Wiesner-Hanks |editor2-first=Merry E. |editor2-link=Merry Wiesner-Hanks |s2cid=229399965 |archive-date=10 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220610113514/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781119535812.ch11 |url-status=live }}</ref>