The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex
In 1978, anthropologist Laila Williamson, in a summary of data she had collated on how widespread infanticide was, found that infanticide had occurred on every continent and was carried out by groups ranging from hunter gatherers to highly developed societies, and that, rather than this practice being an exception, it has been commonplace. The practice has been well documented among the indigenous peoples of Australia, Northern Alaska and South Asia, and Barbara Miller argues the practice to be "almost universal", even in the West. Miller contends that female infanticide is commonplace in regions where women are not employed in agriculture and regions in which dowries are the norm. In 1871 in "The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex", Charles Darwin wrote that the practice was commonplace among the aboriginal tribes of Australia.