The story of human evolution that we’ve been commonly told is one built on the shoulders of male heroism, competition and dominance; but, what if it isn’t the whole story? This book tells the story of women’s evolution.

In The Evolutionary Journey of Woman: From the Goddess to Integral Feminism Dr Sarah Nicholson retraces women’s steps and finds the rich contributions they have made to the chronicled stages of Western history, such as the creation and use of crucial material tools, that have been lost from the historical record. This book upsets the classical notion of man the hunter and woman the gatherer, presenting instead shared tasks and group hunts for small game. Importantly, it locates a tipping point in the Mythic-Imperial age where the concurrent rise of cities under the rule of warring imperial families, food technologies that split essential work into male versus female tasks, the rise of male-centric religions, and civic laws locked gender dynamics into a cycle of inequity that became impossible to fully escape until the rise of the liberation movements in the 20th century.

The Evolutionary Journey of Woman looks towards a future that brings together and re-integrates women’s wisdom through establishing a spiritual lineage for women that begins all the way back in ancient Sumer with the goddess Inanna. Marrying the ancient wisdom traditions with  adult developmental theory, this book charts a pathway towards the full spectrum of possibilities for women’s self-actualisation in the coming Integral age.

Praise for The Evolutionary Journey of Woman

“Sarah’s research establishes the fundamental importance of walking a path of self-actualization for maturing women. She encourages all of us to find the others who have walked ahead through the challenges, the pain, and paradoxes of an evolving life, lighting the Way for those to come.”
Diane Musho Hamilton, Zen teacher and author of Everything Is Workable: A Zen Approach to Conflict Resolution

“Sarah Nicholson has written a rich, well-conceived, integral approach to feminism that shows the power of more inclusive modes of thinking for reaching more satisfying overall results. This is a superb example of that integral approach, and will impact feminist studies for years to come.”
Ken Wilber, author of Sex, Ecology, Spirituality and The Integral Vision

“Finally, a well-written and well-argued, comprehensive book about the evolution of the idea of womanhood and fate of being a woman in the changing landscape of history and culture. From the Goddess to Integral feminism, the journey is rich and moving and a must read for anyone concerned with the experience of women from antiquity to today.”
Dr. Susanne R. Cook-Greuter, author of Post-Autonomous Ego Development

About the author

Dr Sarah Nicholson has a doctorate in feminist philosophy of religion. She is an editor of Integral Voices on Sex, Gender and Sexuality (SUNY Press), and has taught writing, and studies in literature and religion at the universities of Newcastle, Wollongong and Western Sydney.  She was the recipient of an Ian Potter fellowship for literature, and has been a writer in residence at the Three Islands Writers and Translators Centre on Rhodes, Greece. She was the Emerging Writer In Residence of the Katherine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre for 2017.