The Division of Labor By Sex and Other Gender-Related Variables: an Exploratory Study

Abstract

This study tests a set of hypotheses regarding the relationship of variations in the division of labor by sex and the patterning of other genderbased phenomena across cultures. The sexual division of labor is found to be significantly associated with attitudes towards sex, customs for arranging marriages, male sex-typed behavior, and aggression training for boys.The division of labor is not related to the relative status of men and women or to the actual incidence of sexual behavior. The study also comments on the alternative ways in which cause-effect relationships among these variables can be conceptualized.The observed tendency for all known human cultures to exploit the basic biological categories of male and female in assigning tasks is viewed by social scientists as a fundamental organizing principle of human societies, social institutions, and relationships. It is not surprising, therefore, that the division of labor by sex has earned a respected position in the literature as a factor to be reckoned with in efforts to make sense of human culture and behavior. Earlier work on the sexual division of labor has tended to focus on the universal aspects of gender-based task assignment and to ask why such cross-cultural regularities exist (Brown 1970; D'Andrade 1966; Murdock 1949; Murdock and Provost 1973a;Parsons and Bales 1955;White, Burton, and Brudner 1977). But with the special interest in women's issues that we have been witnessing over the last two decades, questions having to do with the causes and consequences of the sexual division of labor have taken on new life and also a new direction. In particular, the theorists who have focused on the interface of women and cul-

A cross-cultural analysis of the behavior of women and men: Implications for the origins of sex differences.

“…In this article, we treat the division of labor and patriarchy separately because they appear to be relatively independent (e.g., Leacock, 1978). This independence was demonstrated empirically in Broude's (1990) analysis of 93 nonindustrial societies from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (Murdock & White, 1969). She defined a society's division of labor as the tendency for productive tasks to be performed by one sex and not the other (e.g., only men work metal, only women make baskets).…”

Human status criteria: Sex differences and similarities across 14 nations.

“…Sketches of some of the important and relatively invariant features of ancestral environments provide a crudely formulated context for advancing general hypotheses about the status criteria that humans use to evaluate each other. Sex differences in reproductive biology and investment selected for sex differences in psychology and behavior, which led to sexual divisions of subsistence labor in our hunter-gatherer ancestors (Broude, 1990). These ancestral divisions of labor fostered sexually asymmetric cultural values and expectations whereby different traits and affordances became differentially valuable in and to men and women, creating a feedback loop between culture and our evolved psychology; culture and evolved psychology co-evolved.…”

Quality and Equality in Marriage: A Cross- Cultural View

“…Broude (1990a) examines correlates of the division of labor by sex, using a composite indicator based on 15 technological tasks. This research is relevant to the ideas of Scanzoni and Scanzoni (1988) on role sharing, which implies the absence of a division of labor by sex within marriage.…”