Just thinking out loud:
Some possible explanations that have been proposed; until people were aware of 'how babies were made' all children were usually considered part of the mother's family.
When the role of the male was understood that provided a reason for them to control their mates so that they weren't providing for someone else's offspring.
In some societies this issue (for reasons I don't remember from 40+ years ago) never came up.
As Denise said when groups were able to settle down in one area, men may have played a larger role in providing food and protecting the 'village'. Women were very often the gatherers of fruits, grains, roots etc while the group migrated from one area to another.
Women were often not thought of as being in need of protection when it took everyone to make a community work. You can't relegate probably close to 50% of the adults in a community to staying home and out of trouble if everyone's contributions are required.
There could of course be another reason, in the matrilineal or not male dominated communities maybe the men thought differently and weren't as bothered if that is the right word about doing tasks or being interested in activities that in male dominated societies were frowned on.
It wasn't until many labour saving devices became available that women really became thought as being 'just a housewife' while men went out to work for money and brought home the bacon.
