Growing up as Boys and Girls

Exercises

1. Are the statements given alongside true or false. Support your answer with the use of an example –
a. All societies do not think similarly about the roles that boys and girls play.
b. Our society does not make distinctions between boys and girls when they are growing up.
c. Women who stay at home do not work.
d. The work that women do is less valued than that of men.
Answer:
(a) True. In most societies, the roles men and women play or the work they do are not valued equally. They do not have the same status. It is supposed that household works must be done by women while men do the office work.
(b) False. The distinctions between boys and girls begins from a very young age. For example, both of them given different toys to play with. Boys are usually given cars to play with and girls dolls. Additionally, they were told how girls must dress, what games boys should play, how girls need to talk softly or boys need to be tough.
(c) False. The responsibility of housework i.e. looking after children, cooking, washing clothes, cleaning, looking after etc. bear a lot of pressure and hardwork. Even after that, this is not recognized as work and presumed as natural work of women. While women work right from morning to the night in household duties.
(d) True. As men get paid for what they are doing in the offices and earns the livelihood while a woman who is working from morning to night in household duties are not paid for. The household work is considered as natural duty of a woman and thus is less valued than that of men.
2. Housework is invisible and unpaid work.

Housework is physically demanding.
Housework is time consuming.
Write in your own words what is meant by the terms ‘invisible’, ‘physically demanding’, and ‘time consuming’? Give one example of each based on the household tasks undertaken by women in your home
Answer:
Invisible: The things which can't be seen.
The household work is invisible which can be seen only when it is not done.
Physically demanding: Demands hardwork and efforts.

Cleaning of floors and washing of clothes are physically demanding works.

Time consuming: Work which takes a lot of to be completed.
Cooking is time consuming work.
3. Make a list of toys and games that boys typically play and another for girls. If there is a difference between the two lists, can you think of some reasons why this is so? Does this have any relationship to the roles children have to play as adults?
Answer: Toys and games that boys typically play: Cars, Toy guns, Cricket, Football, Hockey, Kabaddi etc.
Toys and games that girls typically play: Kitchen set, Doll, Teddy, Badminton, Skipping etc.
Reasons for the difference in the list of games:
(i) Mentality of the society.
(ii) Physical appearence of the body.
(iii) The thought that girls need to talk softly and boys need to be tough.
Yes, it does have relationship to the roles children have to play as adult as men are supposed to work outside in office and earn money while women are supposed to do household works.