"If civilization had been left in female hands we would still be living in grass huts"

Camille Paglia’s assertion that “If civilization had been left in female hands we would still be living in grass huts” is a provocative challenge to commonly held views about gender roles and historical progress. Her statement suggests that men’s historical dominance in technological innovation, architecture, and overarching civilization-building is not solely a consequence of social structures, but something intrinsic to the sexes. She contends that the bold, risk-taking, often aggressive impulses that lead to monumental advances, cities, technology, construction, have primarily arisen from the masculine psyche, which, in her view, has been more driven to leave a mark on the world through grand projects.

Paglia’s perspective does not purport that women are incapable of creativity or achievement. Rather, she proposes that the shaping of civilizations, as it unfolded historically, corresponds with male energies, which were focused outward, sometimes destructively, but also creatively. Women, she argues, have traditionally had a different relationship to the material world, one that is typically more nurturing, protective, or community-focused, prioritizing continuity over disruption. The metaphor of “grass huts” stands for a simpler, more sustainable, but less technologically ambitious form of life, a contrast to temples, towers, and cityscapes.

Her comment is both a tribute to and a critique of the civilizing force that has often been interpreted as exclusively positive. Paglia does not romanticize technological progress and recognizes its costs: violence, hierarchies, and alienation. She frames civilization as a double-edged sword, made possible by masculine drives, which may exclude or marginalize feminine forms of achievement, but which have also propelled humanity beyond subsistence living. Ultimately, Paglia deliberately unsettles the narrative of uncritical progress or gender equality in all forms of achievement, raising uncomfortable questions about the sources of cultural dynamism, the value of different kinds of work, and the ways in which gender shapes history.