Gender and Society

The gender division of work, patriarchy and feminist movements, women’s pay and the child sex ratio, and women’s representation in legislatures and local bodies.

Key ideas

• The sexual division of labour gives housework to women and outside work to men; when such work is paid, men often take it up.
• Patriarchy is a system that values men more and gives them power over women; a feminist believes in equal rights for women and men.
• Feminist movements demanded voting rights, better legal and political status, education and careers, and equality in family life.
• Girls do as well as boys at school but often drop out, as many parents spend more on sons’ education.
• Much of women’s work is unpaid and unrecorded; the 1998–99 time-use survey found women worked about an hour more a day than men.
• The Equal Remuneration Act requires equal pay for equal work.
• One-third of panchayat and municipal seats are reserved for women, and a 2023 law provides 33% of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.

Remember

Watch out

• Reading the sex ratio per 100: it is girls per 1,000 boys.
• Treating unpaid housework as not being work.
• Mixing up local-body reservation (one-third) with the 2023 law for legislatures.

Worked example