Growing up as Boys and Girls

Q24. 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?

Ans.  List of toys and games that boys typically play includes cricket, kabaddi, cars, football etc.

List of toys and games that girls typically play includes doll, kitchen game, indoor games, hide and seek etc.

From the above list we realize that societies make clear distinctions between boys and girls from a very young age. Boys are taught to be tough whereas girls are taught to be soft. All these are ways of telling children that they have specific roles to play when they grow up to be men and women.

Q25. Explain the term Identity, Care-giving and De-valued.

Ans. Identity - Identity is a sense of self-awareness of who one is. Typically, a person can have several identities. For example, a person can be a girl, a sister and a musician.

Care-giving - Care-giving refers to a range of tasks related to looking after and nurturing. Besides physical tasks, they also involve a strong emotional aspect.

De-valued - When someone is not given due recognition for a task or job they have done, they can feel de-valued. For example, if a boy has put in a lot of effort into making a special birthday gift for his friend and this friend does not say anything about this, then the boy may feel de-valued.

Q26. 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.

Ans. Invisible means unable to be seen. The main responsibility for housework and care-giving tasks, like looking after the family, especially children, the elderly and sick members, lies with women. These work that women do within the home is not recognised as work and remain invisible.

Physically demanding means very tough and difficult task that requires lot of efforts. Housework actually involves many different tasks. A number of these tasks require heavy physical work such as fetching water from far off places, carrying head loads of firewood, washing clothes, cleaning, sweeping etc.

Time consuming means work that takes a lot of time. Housework and care-giving tasks, like looking after the family, especially children, the elderly and sick members, lies with women. These work that women do are very time consuming.

Q27. How growing up in Samoa was different from other societies in the 1920s?

Ans. Growing up in Samoa in the 1920s

                        i.        In the 1920s, according to research reports on Samoan society, children did not go to school.

                       ii.        They learnt many things, such as how to take care of children or do household work from older children and from adults.

                      iii.        Fishing was a very important activity on the islands. Young people, therefore, learnt to undertake long fishing expeditions. But they learnt these things at different points in their childhood.

                      iv.        Both boys and girls looked after their younger siblings. But, by the time a boy was about nine years old, he joined the older boys in learning outdoor jobs like fishing and planting coconuts.

                       v.        Girls had to continue looking after small children or do errands for adults till they were teenagers. But, once they became teenagers they had much more freedom.

                      vi.        After the age of fourteen or so, girls also went on fishing trips, worked in the plantations, and learnt how to weave baskets.

         vii.        Cooking was done in special cooking-houses, where boys were supposed to do most of the work while girls helped with the preparations.

Q28. 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.

Ans. It is a true statement because in most societies, including our own, the roles men and women play or the work they do, are not valued equally.

         b.   Our society does not make distinctions between boys and girls when they are growing up.

Ans. It is a false statement because our society makes clear distinctions between boys and girls and this begins from a very young age. For example, boys are usually given cars to play with and girls are given dolls. Girls are taught to talk softly and boys are taught to be tough.

         c.   Women who stay at home do not work.

Ans. It is a false statement because in fact, what we commonly term as housework actually involves many different tasks such as washing clothes, cooking, lifting, cleaning, sweeping etc. A number of these tasks require heavy physical work.

    d. The work that women do is less valued than that of men.

Ans. It is a true statement because the work that women do within the home is not recognised as work. It is also assumed that this is something that comes naturally to women. It, therefore, does not have to be paid for. And society devalues this work.