CHAPTER 4- GROWING UP AS BOYS AND GIRLS

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 4- GROWING UP AS BOYS AND GIRLS

Answer the following questions:

1. Where is the Samoan Islands located?

Answer –

The Samoan Islands are part of a large group of small islands located in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean.

2. What is the main activity of the Samoan Island?

Answer – Fishing

3. Write down the list of things that a growing boy and girl have to do in Samoan Islands.

Answer-

  • As soon as babies could walk, their mothers or other adults no longer looked after them.
  • Older children, often as young as five years old, took over this responsibility.
  • Both boys and girls looked after their younger siblings.
  • But, by the time a boy was about nine years old, he joined the older boys in learning outdoor jobs like fishing and planting coconuts.
  • Girls had to continue looking after small children or do errands for adults till they were teenagers. But, once they became teenagers they had much more freedom.
  • After the age of fourteen or so, girls also went on fishing trips, worked in the
    plantations, and learnt how to weave baskets.
  • Cooking was done in special cooking-houses, where boys were supposed to do most of the work while girls helped with the preparations.

4. “Societies make clear distinctions between boys and girls.” Explain.

Answer –

From a very young age, societies make clear distinctions between boys and girls.

  • Boys and girls are given different toys to play with. Boys are usually given cars to play with and dolls to girls. Toys become a way of telling children that what future they will have when they become men and women.
  • Girls are taught how must they dress and what they should wear.
  • Both boys and girls have been told what games they should play,
  • Girls need to talk softly or boys need to be tough.

5. What is the ‘Double burden’ of women’s work?

Answer – When women have the responsibility of doing work both inside and outside the home, then it is referred to as the double burden of women’s work.

6. When does an organization has to provide a crèche facility?

Answer – The government has passed laws that make it mandatory for organizations that have more than 30 women employees to provide crèche facilities.

7. What is the provision of providing a crèche facility?

Answer – The provision of crèches helps many women to take up employment outside the home. It also makes it possible for more girls to attend school.

8. ‘Society devalues women’s work’. Explain.

Answer –

The work that women do within the home is not recognized as work. It is also assumed that this is something that comes naturally to women. It, therefore, does not have to be paid for. Thus, society devalues their work.

9. What is an Anganwadi?

Answer –
Anganwadis are the child-care centers set up in several villages in the country.

10. How the design of a girl’s school is different from the boy’s school in India?

Answer – The girls’ school was designed very differently from the boys’ school. They had a central courtyard where they played in total seclusion and safety from the outside world. The boys’ school had no such courtyard and our playground was just a big space attached to the school.

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