indian council of medical research - Pondicherry University DSpace ...

a greater work load (UNICEF.1990. Table 7.13) The reduced work load In girls In the
urban area 1s due to a redud~on In the partlclpatlon In non domestlc adlvltles In the
current study, In tbe younger age group, the work load In chlldren was less than that
reported from a rural area In the earher study (UNICEF,1990) The difference wuld be
because, In the current study. In the younger age group, all the ch~ldren except one g~rl
were studylng In school and those In the other study were perhaps not In school The
relatively lower work load obsewed In both girls and boys who were In school In the
current study, reflected the Importance glven to educabon In the study area
Both In the rural and urban areas, girls spent about 45 0% - 50 0% of thelr worklng tlme
~n domestlc actlvltles (UNICEF,1990) The current study also showed that for glrls,
housework contnbuted to about 45 0% - 60 0% of the total duratlon of work, For boys
the major share was taken by agricultural or allled work (Fig 7.3A-7.4C) This flndlng
corroborates that gathered by qualltatlve data, where people generally felt that girl:
should do housework and boys outslde work Thls percepbon poss~bly onglnates from
the deep rooted cultural practice of role play and d~wslon of labor Most people In the
study cornrnun~ty ~ncludlng the adolescents lnte~ewed seem to share th~s perception
The practlce of women staylng mostly In the house reduced the opportunity for
education, experience and eamlng capacity In the course of tlme they bewrne totally
dependent on men In Ideal sltuatlon, both outslde and household work should be
shared by both girls and boys
Allhough there are reports whlch polnt out that girls do not have t~me to relax or talk
and go out (UNICEF,1990), th~s study showed that they had plenty of lelsure In all age
S~QUC. It was also observed that, younger glds (510 years of age) spent less tlme In