<P> Anthropologists maintain that hunter / gatherers don't have permanent leaders; instead, the person taking the initiative at any one time depends on the task being performed . In addition to social and economic equality in hunter - gatherer societies, there is often, though not always, sexual parity as well . Hunter - gatherers are often grouped together based on kinship and band (or tribe) membership . Postmarital residence among hunter - gatherers tends to be matrilocal, at least initially . Young mothers can enjoy childcare support from their own mothers, who continue living nearby in the same camp . The systems of kinship and descent among human hunter - gatherers were relatively flexible, although there is evidence that early human kinship in general tended to be matrilineal . </P> <P> One common arrangement is the sexual division of labour, with women doing most of the gathering, while men concentrate on big game hunting . In all hunter - gatherer societies, women appreciate the meat brought back to camp by men . An illustrative account is Megan Biesele's study of the southern African Ju /' hoan,' Women Like Meat' . Recent archaeological research suggests that the sexual division of labor was the fundamental organisational innovation that gave Homo sapiens the edge over the Neanderthals, allowing our ancestors to migrate from Africa and spread across the globe . </P> <P> To this day, most hunter - gatherers have a symbolically structured sexual division of labour . However, it is true that in a small minority of cases, women hunt the same kind of quarry as men, sometimes doing so alongside men . The best - known example are the Aeta people of the Philippines . According to one study, "About 85% of Philippine Aeta women hunt, and they hunt the same quarry as men . Aeta women hunt in groups and with dogs, and have a 31% success rate as opposed to 17% for men . Their rates are even better when they combine forces with men: mixed hunting groups have a full 41% success rate among the Aeta ." Among the Ju' / hoansi people of Namibia, women help men track down quarry . Women in the Australian Martu also primarily hunt small animals like lizards to feed their children and maintain relations with other women . </P> <P> At the 1966 "Man the Hunter" conference, anthropologists Richard Borshay Lee and Irven DeVore suggested that egalitarianism was one of several central characteristics of nomadic hunting and gathering societies because mobility requires minimization of material possessions throughout a population . Therefore, no surplus of resources can be accumulated by any single member . Other characteristics Lee and DeVore proposed were flux in territorial boundaries as well as in demographic composition . </P>

What is the most common form of marital arrangement among hunter-gathers