Discuss the relationship between modes of production (foraging, Essay

Discuss the relationship between modes of production (foraging, pastoralism, horticulture, agriculture and industry) and gender - Essay Example Some women, therefore, have endured a lot of difficulties and have performed different duties that include fetching water in rivers and dams that are far from their homes. Some take the sole responsibilities to feed the families despite having husbands. Some societies overburden certain gender, for example, with the pastoralists; the young men travel very far to graze the livestock’s while their fathers just stay behind to just rest and sleep at home. O’Hara (278) puts across that women seem to be at bar with men when they share duties with them. In most societies, men’s and women’s duties and responsibilities are strictly defined and one gender can’t undertake the task assigned to the other gender. Women duties are strictly women duties and the same is fair about men’s role. It used to be seen in both America and Europe that it is natural for women to be taking care of homes and caring for the children while men are the breadwinners of the f amily, that is how their cultures define gender roles (Brettell and Sargent 120). With the background of United States and Europe being industrial nations, men perform the difficult task of running the industries. Men are involved in manual activities that include running of the industries (Brettell and Sargent 121). ... Therefore, women were subordinate to women. With such situation, women suffer a lot because, even if their husbands abuse them, they have little options due to their dependency (Brettell and Sargent 120). In these societies of Europe and America that are predominantly agriculturally industrial, there was certain gender inequality; men were paid more for the same job which the woman did. Women also hold positions that are low with men taking the positions of managers and directors within industries. With men dominating having the decision making vote in these industries, they did little to fight for the rights of women. According to Brettell and Sargent (119) in their book titled â€Å"Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective†, in spite of gender inequality such industrial countries have been labeled as the most egalitarian of human societies. Brettell and Sargent (120) break down four reasons for this division of labor: the variability in the supply of game, different skills requi red for hunting and gathering, incompatibility between carrying burdens and hunting, and small size of semi-nomadic foraging populations. According to O’Hara (278), both men and women in foraging societies enjoy equal status because women gathering contribute huge portion of family diet while hunting is sometimes not reliable. The gathering role taken by women helped elevate the status of the women in these societies. But according to Brettell and Sargent (120), in the societies that hunt and fish, the status of women is low. In fact among these societies, the role is not clearly defined according to O’Hara book. There are therefore several instances where women and men hunt and gather together taking the society to a notch higher in