Socially determined distribution of roles will either be based on what is the best done by women and what is the best done men. Normally the female side always has a longest list of activities under their responsibilities as compared to the male side.
Distribution of Reproductive Roles
Reproductive gender roles involve any activities concerned within the biological as well the social reproduction of labor. In the biological reproduction of labor, the gender roles concerned are those around child care and rearing. Reproductive roles looked into at Njoro Village included cooking, laundry, dish-washing, grain milling, sweeping the household, food storage, collecting fire wood, fetching water, child minding, shopping for groceries, buying meat, etc.
How do men and women participate in reproductive gender roles? An overwhelming majority of male interviewees (89%) and female interviewees (88%) said women were the principal actors in distribution of gender tasks within a household.
Male interviewees said that women were cooking (100%); doing laundry (100%); dish washing (88%); milling (88%); buying groceries (100%); collecting fuel wood (100%) fetching water (100%); giving children a bath (100%); child minding, house cleaning (100%); and setting cooking stove (100%). Similar number of women interviewees concurred with the above observation. They said that they were involved in cooking (100%); doing laundry (100%); dish washing (100%); milling (100%); buying groceries (100%); collecting fuel wood (100%) fetching water (100%); giving children a bath (100%); child minding, house cleaning (100%); and setting cooking stove (100%); waste dumping (100%); and cleaning the surroundings (100%).
Overall, Only 51% of male interviewees said that they were participating in household activities. But only 21% of female interviewees agreed to that observation on men.
Distribution of Productive Roles as Identified by Village Leaders Interviewees
As regards these tasks, the village leaders were confronted with a list of the main steps in cultivation activities that men and women do. These farming steps included field clearing, planting maize, beans, rice, and palms; tilling the fields, harvesting, burning, collection of wood, environmental degradation and environmental sanitation.
Overall figures show that there is an equal distribution of productive roles between men and women in the village. For example 74% of all interviewees said women were actively involved in productive roles, especially in planting, tilling, harvesting, collecting firewood, and in burning. This was in addition to the reproductive role that a woman had within a household. Similarly, 77% of all interviewees said men were also actively involved in productive sector despite their poor performance in reproductive areas.
The most interesting part that appeared in the observation was when male interviewees were asked to say who was largely responsible for environmental degradation. 50% of male interviews said women were responsible, while another 50% said men were responsible for degradation. For their part, 100% of female interviewees said men were entirely responsible for all sorts of environmental degradation. Men were cutting down trees for commercial charcoal, polluting water sources with their herds of cattle and goats, and responsible in poaching of wildlife animals.
Monitoring Changes in Gender Roles for women in the Village:
Men interviewees of the village leadership were asked if there had been any visible changes in distribution of any reproductive or productive roles in their local society. Were there any changes in their own role as well as the role of their women in the households? As regards women’s roles, 50% of male interviewees said women were now being encouraged to participate fully in all community development activities. 25% of male interviewees said women were now involved in small business activities such as in sewing machines. Also, 25% of male interviewees said Women are taking care of livestock and take them to feeding areas. 13% said women have been traveling to collecting water by using bicycles. As for inheritance, 13% of male interviewees said women could now equally share the rights with their male counterparts. Another 13% of male interviewees said women could now own farms.
As for women interviewees, 67% percent said there were changes in gender roles within the household as men use more time to help their wives who are away in most of time working in non-farming activities. 67% of women interviewees also said that women are now able to work outside their households. A third of women interviewees said women were now more educated as ever.
Monitoring Changes in Gender Roles for Men in the Village
100% of women interviewees said men were now starting to be a little bit more responsible in reproductive role than before. The general observation is that women who have now been more equally active in the productive sector have been spending less and less time within the households as they participate in the commercial non-farming sector. Men have found themselves amidst this new reality and so they are reluctantly engaged in reproductive responsibilities whenever women are away. With this, comes another issue of decision making process within the household. Since a woman has now been harnessing income, her previous role of being treated as just a mother is now transforming towards a resource person as well. Therefore 67% of female interviewees said women now are beginning to slowly have their voices heard in a family. 31% of female interviewees said men are now increasingly coming to terms with the issues of women’s rights in the community.
75% of male interviewees agree that they have now been actively involved in household activities. Men are now collecting wood (13%), water (13%) and even go to the market to buy vegetables. In fact, men say that they are changing (13%)
Taken from Report on "Food Security and Gender in Tanzania.
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