Women’s History and Gender Relations: An Interview with Almudena Hernando

In this interview series called Women’s History and Gender Relationships, we conduct interviews with experts, activists, NGO leaders, and academics. The aim of the series is to explore these topics from multiple perspectives and to provide a deep, interdisciplinary analysis. We move from questions such as what gender is and where it comes from to how it has influenced history, what effects it has on contemporary society, and how gender should be approached in today’s context. The first interview is conducted with Almudena Hernando. She is a recently retired Professor of Prehistory and a Senior member of the Institute for Feminist Research at the Complutense University of Madrid. In this article she examines the historical construction of gender and identity through an interdisciplinary framework that combines archaeology, anthropology, and social theory. Hernando argues that forms of identity are historically contingent and determined by the changing relationships between human beings, technology, and systems of representation. A central aspect of her analysis is the distinction between relational identity, based on interdependence and belonging, and individuality, associated with autonomy and abstraction. The interview situates the emergence of gender inequality in Late Prehistory, linking it to processes of social differentiation, greater mobility, and the gradual individualization of men. Men gradually abandoned the relational identity that initially characterized them as well, so that this form of identity came to be retained solely by women. Until the modern era, men prevented women from developing individuality so that women would guarantee them care, bonds, and a sense of belonging through normative heterosexual relationships. The discussion also explores women’s identity since the modern era, the impact of major technological transformations, particularly the introduction of writing and the rise of digital communication. Hernando suggests that the Internet marks a new historical phase in which traditional notions of interiority are destabilized and identity is increasingly constructed through digital and virtual representation. While offering a comprehensive and provocative interpretation of long-term social change, the interview addresses current debates in gender studies and anthropology and invites critical reflection on the relationship between identity, power, and technological development.