Hunting and gathering ways of life for both Homo erectus and Homo sapiens allowed women

Some scholars have argued that the hunting and gathering ways of life for both Homo erectus and Homo sapiens allowed women – biologically, through their lactation and child-rearing, and calorically, through their dominant role as gatherers – to make a larger and more significant contribution to their communities than their male counterparts did. In what ways might the development of settled agriculture have ushered in a shift in these gender roles? What were the likely consequences for the balance of power and role of women as societies shifted from hunting and gathering to agriculture? Why?