Coalitions matter for both men and women: Insights from three subsistence communities in southwest Ethiopia

Maud Mouginot, Luke Glowacki, Zachary H Garfield 

Coalitions are a widespread cooperative strategy across mammals, including humans, in which they form an important component that sustain friendships. In subsistence-based societies, research on coalitions has primarily focused on men, leaving women comparatively understudied. To address this gap, we examined coalitions within and between genders among three subsistence-based communities in southwest Ethiopia (Kwegu, Kara, Nyangatom). We distinguished contest coalitions, involving direct confrontation against others, and scramble coalitions, involving gaining access to resources before others. Using focus group interviews, we found robust support that both men and women use scramble and contest coalitions. We then conducted structured interviews (n = 60 men, 82 women) in a Kwegu community focusing on three domains of contest coalitions: group decision-making, interpersonal disagreements, and opposite-gender motivation. Using GLMMs, we showed that both men and women were equally likely to report forming coalitions in those contexts. Exploring partner preferences, overall, women appear to exhibit greater selectivity than men in their choice of coalitionary partners. Using MBLRs and LMMs, we found that while men prefer high-status partners and a larger number of coalitionary partners compared to women, women show strong preference for same gender partners as well as those from the same clan, age group and with whom they share kinship ties compared to men. In conclusion, women’s use of coalitions extends to contexts typically associated with men and might affect social dynamics differently. As for multiple other mammal species, including our closest living relatives, female coalitions might be a fundamental feature of human social organization.