Role of Work in Socio-economic Development
Senior 2 · Entrepreneurship
Role of Work in Socio-economic Development
Lesson 4 of 4
18 min
Ask a class to draw a mechanic, a nurse, a pilot and someone cooking at home. Many drawings will show the mechanic and the pilot as men and the nurse and the cook as women. Nothing in the work itself decides this; the expectations of society do. Those expectations shape who gets which jobs, who is paid, and who does the unpaid work at home, and therefore how much of a country’s talent is actually used.
This case is written by Ganzaa. Mukamana spends 6 hours a day on housework and care, while her husband earns 80,000 Frw a month as a driver. The family agree to share the housework: the husband and the older children take over 2 hours of it every day. Mukamana uses those 2 hours to sew school uniforms, earning about 500 Frw an hour, 26 days a month.
Nobody worked longer in total; the family simply shared unpaid work more fairly, and its income rose by almost a third.
Tip
Memory hook. Sex is biology; gender is society. If a statement could change from one country or generation to another (“women do not drive motos”), it is about gender, not sex. In an exam, challenge a stereotype with a counter-example.
Solution: A gender stereotype: management is a learned skill, and women manage successfully in business and government, including in Rwanda’s parliament.
Solution: 24 ÷ 80 × 100 = 30%, matching the constitutional minimum.
Solution: Any two: women have less time for paid work or business; girls may miss school to do chores; household income is lower; women’s talent is wasted.
Solution: Equality gives everyone the same rights and opportunities; equity gives people what they need to reach fair outcomes, e.g. extra mentoring for girls entering technical courses.
Summary
Sources and credits
The household case, the worked example and the practice items are written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
