This week Gerald Kitabu interviewed academician and gender
activist Rose George Mbezi on how gender division of labour
obscures the importance of women work. Excerpts: QUESTION: I
understand that you have conducted research on gender division
of labour, what is it? ANSWER. Gender is a social category
referring to the social expectations that are developed and
placed upon individuals on the basis of their biological sex.
Different roles exist for males and females, through which they
are expected to become and act ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’.
Gender division of labour, therefore, is the social construction
of roles between men and women. The roles are then learned, we
are not born with them. Gender roles define appropriate manners
of interacting, dressing as well as providing limitations on
goals and aspirations. Q: What’s the situation like in Tanzania?
A. Gender division of labour is neither rigid nor universal,
since the division of tasks varies from one country to another
as well as from one community to an