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Yes, I'm serious.
I'm an amateur bird breeder and when I watch my little feathery friends (I breed finches) co-parent their chicks every year, I always ask myself "Why can't humans be like that?" and the answer is simple: because we're mammals and human culture (including gender roles) was shaped by our biology as mammals.
Pregnancy and the first few years of childrearing (at least pre-baby formula) are something only the females of our species can do and we are vulnerable during it. A heavily pregnant, post-partum or breastfeeding woman has always been in need of support, especially so in pre-modern times. But the support a male can give during that time is basically limited to being a protector and provider, he can't breastfeed, give birth or be pregnant. Add to that that our offspring takes a long time to become self-sufficient and is very helpless and vulnerable in the beginning even compared to other mammals, so we are trapped caring for and watching our children closely for a pretty long time. That's what shaped every society that exists today.
Now just imagine we weren't mammals, but badass, highly evolved finch ladies:
Finding a mate? Well, lets go out and look at all the handsome single men out there dancing, singing and waving little sticks around to get our attention. Society absolutely supports that we only give our attention to the strongest and prettiest males out there because they have good genes and will be good providers and that's how our species grows stronger. The weak ones just need to work harder or they'll get eaten by predators before they get to procreate. Tragic? Ah, well... that's life, right?
Let's choose the prettiest, strongest one, the best singer and dancer, and see what else he has to offer. He leads us to a beautiful house he has built for us. It's fully furnished - including the nursery - and we just have to move in. If we want a few renovations done before that, he'll be happy to change whatever we want. While we try out the bed and the nursery he brings us food and pretty gifts to convince us to stay and prove he will be a good provider.
So we decide he'll be the father of our children. 9 months of pregnancy, traumatizing childbirth, post-partum, breast feeding and going through all of that alone? Forget it. We take a single day to produce an egg of a size we can conveniently lay without risking injury. If we want more kids, we lay a second egg the next day. And into the cradle they go. From now on it's 50-50 time. Our chosen male and we take equal turns incubating the eggs, so everyone has enough time to eat, fly around, rest, go to our bird-job, meet our bird-friends and pursue our bird-hobbies. Then the babies hatch and for the first few days we take equal turns feeding them and the babies grow quickly. Once the babies are big enough to leave their cradle and toddle around, caring for them is the dad's job. We stay with the family, cuddle and groom them a little, but all the egg-laying was a little tiring, so dad feeds them, protects them, teaches them how to be an adult bird etc. while we eat good, healthy food and recover. If dad did well we may even consider raising a few more kids with him. If we see a prettier, stronger male on the horizon? Well, no hard feelings, we'll always be friends and all that, see you when I see you.
Doesn't sound too bad, does it?
Another nice thought: When tragedy strikes in finch town and eggs or babies are orphaned, our neighbors' parenting instincts are so strong they'll adopt and raise the babies in a heartbeat. Yes, even if all our neighbors are males or couples who already have their own babies to feed, they'll band together and try their best to be good foster parents and no baby is abandoned.
I love this bird example! Thanks for sharing.
The other land mammal that lives a long time, has babies that are dependent for years, and offspring that require lots of care, are elephants.
Elephants live in matriarchies. The mom, her daughters sisters and granddaughters live in community and support each other raising the babies. They live about 90 years. Male elephants live alone because they’re aggressive, and they eat too much. So when young male elephants reach adulthood, they’re sent into exile.
In ancient human days, women lived in peaceful, supportive matriarchies and worshipped the Goddess. Women were revered, independent and secure. Unfortunately Indo-European warrior cultures swept through these peaceful lands, murdered the males and enslaved the women. They called it “marriage,” and “concubinage,” and so began the worldwide oppression of human women until today.
Our legacy is as priestess, goddess and creative life force. We are superior. Never settle for a man who doesn’t recognize your value.
Any other male understands he needs to make himself worthy to mate and have a female and also understands when his usefulness has ended its time for him to go. Only the human male acts like he is the prize and and it's the human female in general who is dumb enough to put males on a pedestal.
I say this because there are more pickme's who throw other women under the bus for a man that women on girl code, chicks before the d!cks. And it usually starts with the mother, she suffocates her daughter and treat her like property that needs to be reserved to be liked by men, cooking, cleaning and stay a virgin preferably at home often because only men can sleep around and be free.
It's usually the pickme mother who makes the daughters want to fight for her rights and be seen as a human being. Pickme's nurture and strengthen the patriarchy more than the XY creature.