The Battle Of The Sexes

Abstract:  Female primates carry and nurse the fetus, and thus have the ...rst responsibility for rearing the ospring. Assuming males are at least equally adept at obtaining food, males might either share surplus food with females or consume the food themselves. The distribution of this surplus is the subject of a battle of the sexes. If females succeed in obtaining a large share of the surplus, then there is little size dimorphism between males and females; otherwise males might use the surplus themselves to become larger and stronger, and to engage in sexual competition with other males.