Reproduction, production and the sexual division of labour

Abstract

This basically economic treatise elaborates the thesis that the focal point of women's economic activities is provided by their special role in the reproduction of the labor force. Given that change in sex roles is necessary in order not to perpetuate a division of labor which places women in subordinate positions, this paper attempts to analyze the nature and functions of traditional sex roles and to study the structures that have supported them through generations in an effort to conceptualize the relevant issues and to set up a general framework from which change in social structure relating to women and their economic dependency can proceed. In addition, specific studies of concrete situations observed within and across countries and cultural barriers are used for illustration. The argument, simply stated, which the paper seeks to prove, is that male domination develops around the need to control reproduction in its different aspects; the concept of reproduction used here indicates a dynamic process of change linked with the perpetuation of social systems. It includes social as well as physical reproduction, and its meaning therefore goes beyond that of reproduction of human beings. This concept of reproduction is isolated in discussions of production and the sexual division of labor, including agrarian structures and modes of production; the commercialization and proletarization of agriculture; and the availability of labor resources and development of wage labor markets. The implications of this concept of reproduction in population policy, specifically population control, are not explicitly discussed but are tremendously important.