Some still argue that the inequality between men and women is an inevitable consequence of inbuilt biological and psychological differences between them. But this is nothing more than a crude justification for an already changing status quo. As Engels noted as early as the 1880s, women’s oppression coincided with the rise, some 10,000 years ago or so, of the state and class society—two institutions that are also not “hardwired” into human social life. If women’s oppression had a beginning—and if for most of human history women did not face systematic oppression—then clearly it can have an end. What are the conditions necessary to make that a reality? Looking at the latest anthropological, neurological, and historical evidence, this talk will show, as the title suggests, what factors led to women’s oppression, and what factors will lead to the dawning of a society free of it.