ved sexual identity. An important clarification is the difference between sex and gender; sex refers to biological characteristics a fetus is born with, while once again gender is created by society. However gender can refer to the biological sex at times, but it will not always match up. The understanding of gender and how cultures utilize it, is the basis to understanding the evolution of the modern hierarchy and the location of the concentration of power. It was not till the 1970s that women began to blatantly question the masculinist orthodoxies in anthropology, criticizing traditions in both literature and in the field(Okely, 2019). During this time the difference between sex being biological and gender being a social construct first appear started to appear in the literature. In spite of the fact that the study of gender in anthropology was still uncharted waters women anthropologist have made impressive progress in examining gender and traditional anthropological theory.

One of these pioneering females was María Lugones who developed the concept of Coloniality of Gender. Lugones’s theory expanded and developed the concept Coloniality of Power. She defined the Coloniality of Gender as the “the analysis of racialized, capitalist, gender oppression” (Manning, 2019). This concept was critical for the field because for the first time the power structures and cultural norms of colonized civilizations before the settling by white European powers were being acknowledged and documented. Specifically observing the indigenous groups in the Americas. The concept of binary gender was introduced to the indigenous groups by the European colonizers in an effort to organize production. The indigenous population found this perplexing due to the cultural belief in “two-spirit” or what can be considered a third gender (Morgensen. 2012). With the colonization of the indigenous population Europeans were able to instill their beliefs about gender and sex, eventually this became a tool in their quest for dominance (Manning, 2019). Additionally it can be suggested that it created the foundation of a hierarchical system in the Americas and the Caribbean society knows toady. In short the institution of gender was the beginnings of colonial power around the world. With the concept of hierarchy forced on the indigenous colonizers were able to justify gendered violence, because of the man over woman ideal.

Gendered violence played an important role in the shaping of colonial societies and establishing power and it continued to be a tool of retaining power during post-colonisation and modern day conflict. It is clear that even in modern day society there is a large amount of inequality throughout the world in terms of men’s and women’s opportunities, and unfortunately the inequalities can become amplified during times of conflict. During World War 1 80% of casualties were soldiers, during the Vietnam War 80% of casualties were civilians mostly women and children (Fagan,1999). This is an example of an extremely concerning trend and that is that women and children have