Chapter 4 — Growing Up as Boys and Girls

In Samoa in the 1920s, children did not go to school but learned from older children and adults. Around age nine, boys joined older boys for outdoor jobs like fishing and planting coconuts. Girls continued looking after younger siblings and doing errands until they became teenagers, after which they too went on fishing trips, worked in plantations, and learned to weave baskets. Cooking was done in special cooking-houses where boys did most of the work while girls helped with preparations.

From Class VI onwards, boys and girls attended separate schools. The girls' school had a central courtyard where they played in total seclusion and safety from the outside world. After school, girls walked straight home in groups — partly because they feared being teased or attacked. Boys, by contrast, used streets casually: to idle, play, and try tricks on their bicycles.

The chapter explains that boys are usually given cars to play with and girls are given dolls. Toys become a way of telling children that they will have different futures as men and women, signalling specific roles from a very young age. This difference is created in the smallest everyday things — how girls must dress, what games boys should play, and how boys need to be tough while girls must talk softly.

Housework is called invisible because it is unpaid and not recognised as real work. It is assumed to come naturally to women and therefore does not need to be paid for. As a result, society devalues it even though it is physically demanding and time-consuming.

Yes. The chapter states that housework involves many tasks requiring heavy physical work. In rural and urban areas women and girls fetch water; in rural areas they carry heavy headloads of firewood. Washing clothes, cleaning, sweeping, and picking up loads require bending, lifting, and carrying. Cooking involves standing for long hours in front of hot stoves. The chapter describes women's work as strenuous and physically demanding.

The term 'double burden' describes the situation where women labour both inside the home (housework and care-giving) and outside the home (paid work). This means women spend much more total time working than men and have much less time for leisure.

A 1998–1999 study by the Central Statistical Organisation of India showed that in Haryana, women spent 23 hours on paid work and 30 hours on housework per week, while men spent 38 hours on paid work and only 2 hours on housework. In Tamil Nadu, women spent 19 hours on paid work and 35 hours on housework per week, while men spent 40 hours on paid work and 4 hours on housework.

Melani is a domestic worker who worked in Delhi. Her account describes starting work at 5 o'clock in the morning, receiving only a cup of tea and two dry rotis for breakfast with no extra food allowed, and not being permitted to wear chappals in the house so her feet swelled in winter. Her story illustrates the poor conditions, low wages, and lack of respect that domestic workers face despite their hard work.

The Constitution states that being male or female should not become a reason for discrimination. Equality is described as an important principle of the Constitution. The government is therefore committed to understanding reasons for inequality between men and women and taking positive steps to remedy the situation.

The government has set up anganwadis or child-care centres in several villages across the country. It has also passed laws making it mandatory for organisations that have more than 30 women employees to provide crèche facilities. These measures help women take up employment outside the home and make it possible for more girls to attend school.

The chapter explains that the burden of child-care and housework falling on women and girls naturally has an impact on whether girls can attend school. It also determines whether women can work outside the home and what kind of jobs and careers they can have.

Care-giving refers to a range of tasks related to looking after and nurturing family members — especially children, the elderly, and the sick. These tasks involve both physical work and a strong emotional aspect. Across the world, this responsibility falls mainly on women, yet the work is not recognised as real work and goes unpaid, leading society to devalue it.

The NCERT PDF for Class 7 Social and Political Life II Chapter 4 'Growing up as Boys and Girls' is available free with no sign-up required on cbseprepmaster.com.