We know of no culture that has said, articulately, that there is no difference between men and women except in the way they contribute to the creation of the next generation.

Margaret Mead made this observation in the course of her mid‑20th‑century anthropological arguments about sex roles as cultural constructions rather than fixed biological destinies. Drawing on comparative ethnography (including her well-known work in the South Pacific), Mead repeatedly emphasized that societies vary widely in what they expect of “men” and “women,” yet none she knew erased the distinction altogether. The remark functions as a corrective to simplistic claims that gender differences are either purely natural or purely invented: even where roles are flexible, cultures still mark sex difference in some socially meaningful way, especially around reproduction and kinship.

Mead’s remark underscores a core anthropological claim associated with her work: across societies, ideas about “masculine” and “feminine” roles vary widely, but cultures still tend to mark some social difference between men and women beyond biological reproduction. The quote pushes back against the notion that gender distinctions are purely natural or inevitable in their specific social form, while also noting that no known society has fully erased gender differentiation in everyday life. Its significance lies in framing gender as culturally organized—yet persistently organized—inviting readers to examine which differences are socially constructed, which are institutionalized, and why societies maintain them.