Post menopausal women have a value.  It's sad and degrading to our species
at this evolutionary juncture that anyone would publish material with an
editorial that states non-menstruating women might as well be dead since ONE
biological function has ceased.  Do we really see no other value in women
than baby makers?  I once read that we don't really males in this new age
because we have full sperm banks and women can provide for themselves
without men.  I remember one woman saying she had 'no use for a man'.  And,
of course, there's the old song, "Short people got no reason to live".
        I've also read that women did not menstruate as long as we do now.  Can't
remember where I read it, though.  The truth is that no one really knows the
biological state of our forebears.
        A post menopausal woman, however, has significant social value, just as old
men do.  We have forgotten the value of our elderly - a devaluing which did
not exist on this scale until the 20th century.
        Old folks bridge the gap between generations, teach valuable lessons in
living and survival, provide psychological support, even assist in the
survival of the tribe by watching youngsters when the young men and women
were away hunting and gathering.  It is possible that elderly people made
the survival of the human species possible by simply keeping the young safe.
Have we forgotten that humans were often the prey of other animals?  Not
just any humans - little ones.
        Menstruation is only ONE function.  It's for procreation.  But after the
fun of procreation comes lots of hard work.  A post menopausal woman is more
likely to be concerned with tribal/group issues than her own personal ones
(babies).  A human being is much more than the sum of the parts.

Kimberly Rogers
"We have our arts; the ancestors had theirs...We cannot raise obelisks a
hundred feet high in a single piece, but our meridians are more exact."
Voltaire

>Elder women in tribal society play a very important, if genderless, role of
>passing on tribal knowledge, wisdom, and lore to the children.  This is an
>important contribution in addition to the other economic contributions made
>to the tribe.

True. Recently there was a study on African elephants which showed that the
groups with oldest female elephant had the highest chances to survive and to
make wise decision.

I think we care less for old people than primitive cultures did and the
statement that nature intended us to die young is false.
With pre-agricultural rate of procreation and lack of Internet :)  old
people was living huge databases which increased chances to survive of the
tribe.

Paul Sand
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