Gender division of labour in household management and their perception regarding training needs in Potohar region

Household management is considered as the productive role of women in addition to their reproductive role of child bearing and rearing. Much of the rural women work is considered unpaid, efforts are not recognized and in some cases remain unreported. The gender wars are fought in many different arenas. One of the most contested sites is the home where men and women, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters negotiate their roles and struggle for power and cooperation. Women play a vital role in home management activities. Realizing the need for determining the context of gender division of labor in the household management, a study was, conducted in Chakwal District from Potohar Region of Punjab Province in Pakistan. It was revealed that managing household activities, family and social issues were mainly carried out by rural women followed by partially assisting to husbands in livestock and crop management. The husbands were mainly involved in crop management while partial help was sought from their wives in livestock and farming activities. The three top ranking activities of wives were children care, sanitation and safety of the house. The three top ranking activities of husbands were education and socialization of the children, conflict management, and social matters. It is concluded that gender division of labor does not simply imply intra-household distribution of responsibilities but gendered social structure entails ideological and material components that differently affect the overall well being of women and men. It is, therefore, suggested that public and private sector organizations/ institutions should reinforce the gender equality in socioeconomic domains through educational processes, changing cultural expectations and changing institutional social structure, so that men could allow their women to take training for their home management activities.