NPR

Working Moms Have Been A 'Thing' Since Ancient History

Who ruled early farming? Women! Studies of ancient bones show that women's physical labor was crucial to driving the agricultural revolution in Europe.
A woman farmer makes hay bales in Kashmir, India. In India, women comprise about a third of the agricultural labor in developing countries.

Well, it looks like women have been balancing a full-time job and motherhood for thousands of years. All the while, they haven't gotten much credit for it.

By studying the bones of ancient women in Europe, archaeologists at the University of Cambridge have uncovered a hidden history of women's manual labor, from the early days of farming about 7,500 years ago up until about 2,000 years ago.

"Hours and hours of, an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge, who led the study.

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