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The biological differences between men and women do not normally change; people are either male or female. However, the characteristics they are perceived to have, and the roles and responsibilities assigned to them, differ among societies, cultures, and historical periods.
Gender roles are the activities ascribed to men and women on the basis of perceived differences. “Division of labor” is a term used in gender literature to mean the roles and tasks assigned to women and men on the basis of perceived gender characteristics and attributes, instead of ability and skills.
Men’s Roles:
Today, in the world’s more industrialized countries there are few lines of demarcation between men’s and women’s occupations. However, in many less industrialized societies men have more visible and recognized roles than women, largely because men are paid for their productive work and women are not. In these societies, men’s roles usually involve jobs which are assessed and counted in national censuses and accounting systems. Men do not usually perform domestic or household tasks. If they have community management roles, these tend to involve political organization and leadership. Women handle community organization and hands-on activities.
Women’s Roles:
Women’s roles in most societies fall into three categories: productive (relating to production of goods for consumption or income through work in or outside the home), reproductive (relating to domestic or household tasks associated with creating and sustaining children and family), and community management (relating to tasks and responsibilities carried out for the benefit of the community). Women must balance the demands of these three different roles and should be recognized for their contributions.
The tasks women usually perform in carrying out their different roles do not generally earn them an income. Women are often defined exclusively in terms of their reproductive roles, which largely concern activities associated with their reproductive functions. These reproductive roles, together with their community management roles, are perceived as natural. But because these roles do not earn income, they are not recognized and valued as economically productive. Women’s contributions to national economic development are, therefore, often not quantified and invisible.
In many societies, women also carry out productive activities such as maintaining smallholder agricultural plots in farming systems. These tasks are often not considered work and are often unpaid. Women may also perform many roles which attract wages in both the formal and informal economic sectors. But women’s economically productive roles, in contrast to men’s, are often undervalued or given relatively little recognition.
Gender roles and responsibilities vary among cultures and can change over time. For example, in India, unskilled labor is considered “women’s work” while in Africa it is “men’s work.” In Europe and the United States, the contribution men make to domestic activities is becoming increasingly important and visible.
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