It seems like the devaluing of women is an oft-exaggerated historical trope. Women have always been valuable to society, after all, the men don't have babies.

It seems like the devaluing of women is an oft-exaggerated historical trope. Women have always been valuable to society, after all, the men don't have babies. We'd see a lot of it as sexist today, but when manual labor was pretty much the only option, you could take a look at any couple and have a pretty good idea which one would be better for working in the fields.