Social and Political Life- II�Textbook for class- VII

Growing up as Boys and Girls

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Mr. Piyush Kumar

TGT SST

JNV MAHASAMUND (C.G.)

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Growing up as Boys and Girls

• Being a boy or a girl is an important part of one’s identity.
• The society we grow up in teaches us what kind of behavior is acceptable for boys and girls, what boys and girls can or cannot do.
• The separate qualities that men and women are usually expected to have is termed as GENDER. Gender is determined socially and not biologically as sex.
• Most societies value men and women differently. The roles women play and the work they do is valued less.
• Lets see, do all societies see boys and girls in different ways

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Growing up in Samoa in the 1920s

The Samoan islands are located in the southern part of the Pacific ocean.

Older children( girls and boys) learn to take care of younger ones and to do household work from adults.

Both boys and teenager girls go on fishing trips, worked in plantations, weave baskets and participate in outdoor works.

During cooking most of the work is done by boys and girls just help in preparations.

DO YOU FIND IT AS A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE. HOW?

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Growing up male in Madhya Pradesh

• In a small town in Madhya Pradesh, from class VI on wards, boys and girls go to separate schools.
• In girl’s school a central courtyard is as play ground detached from the outside world. The boys school does not have any such courtyard, rather they have a big open space to play.
• After the school gets over the girls move in groups due to fear of being teased while boys roam around freely doing various stuffs on the road.
• Girls are supposed to household chores and boys to outdoor works.

The ways societies make distinction between boys and girls.

• Making distinction between boys and girls begins from very early age.
• Boys are usually given cars and girls are given dolls. Toys become the way to tell their different futures as men and women.
• How girls must dress, what games should boys play, how girls need to talk softly and boys need to be tough are the way to tell their specific roles in the society.
• Later in life the subjects and the career is also influenced by this notion.
• men and women do not have same status in the society.

Differences exist in the work done by men and women

• Women’s work done within home is not recognized as real work.
• Across the world the responsibility for house work and care giving, looking after the sick's and the small children lies with women.
• It is assumed that these works naturally comes to women and that’s why there in no needs to pay for these. Hence the work done by women are devalued i.e. not given importance.

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HOTS- Have you noticed cooks at the hotels and dhabas, washer men, tailors in the market are mostly men. Think why?

Is house work easy, not time consuming?

• What we commonly term as house work actually involves many tasks. A number of these tasks require heavy physical work.
• In both rural and urban areas women and girl have to fetch water, carry firewood.
• Washing clothes, cleaning, sweeping and picking up loads require bending, lifting and carrying.
• In coking involve standing long hours in front of hot stoves. Care giving is also time consuming. The work women do at home is very strenuous and physically demanding.
• Working women have to do work both inside and outside the home. This is termed as DOUBLE BURDEN.

Lives of domestic workers

• Most domestic workers are women. Sometimes, young boys or girls are employed to do this work.
• Their working hours are long, wages are meager and no holidays.
• A domestic worker’s day can begin as early as 5 o clock in the morning and end as late as 12 0 clock in the night.
• Some times they are misbehaved and ill treated also. Their jobs are not secured and they are totally dependent on their master’s will.

Women’s work, equality and government.

• The constitution says that being male and female should not become a reason for discrimination.
• Government recognize the burden of child care and house work falls on women and girls that may affects the girls attending schools and women working outside the house.
• The government has set up anganwadis and child care centers.
• Government has made mandatory for organizations that have more than 30 employee to provide the facility of crèche. That helped school going girls and working women's.