Hermann Heinrich Ploss (1819-1885) was a German gynecologist and anthropologist. He was a professor at the medical faculty of the University of Leipzig. He published numerous works on sexual medicine and is considered one of the founders of comparative gynecology and pediatrics. In this volume, he describes women in natural history and anthropology. Some anthropologists believe that historically, women were held in higher regard than men. For early groups of hunters and gatherers, female members may have been economically more important due to the greater consistency of their yields as gatherers compared to the variable success of hunters. With their ability to give birth, women contributed to the survival of the group. The fact that the mother of a child can always be unequivocally identified, while this is not the case for paternity, is noteworthy.