CBSE Class 7 Civics Chapter 4 Notes Understanding The Lesson

1. The societies in which we grow up teach us about kind of behaviour which is acceptable for girls and boys.

2. Societies also teach us what boys and girls can or cannot do.

3. Samoan Islands is a southern part of the Pacific Ocean. The children of Samoan society did not go to school in the 1920s. Being the young people, therefore, they learnt many things at different points in their childhood. They learnt to take care of children or do household work, fishing, coconut plantation.

4. Girls had to continue looking after small children or do errands for adults till they were teenagers. Once they became teenagers they had much more freedom. After the age of 14 or so, girls also went on fishing trips, worked in the plantations, and learnt how to weave baskets. In the cooking boys were supposed to do most of the work while girls helped with the preparations.

5. In Madhya Pradesh boys and girls went to separate schools. The schools of girls and boys were designed very differently from each other. The girls always went in groups, perhaps because they also carried fears of being teased or attacked.

6. A clear distinction between boys and girls can be seen from a very young age. Boys are usually given cars, gun while girls are given dolls, utensils etc., to play with. It is because of telling children that they will have different futures and they have specific roles to play when they grow up to be men and women.

7. Most of the people do not feel that housework is a real work. In our societies housework is undertaken by the women. Housework involves various works such as cooking, cleaning, wash-up, care-giving to the children, elderly and sick members and these lie with women. The work that women do within the home is not recognized as work.

8. A lot of work is done by domestic workers in many homes, particularly in towns and cities. They do sweeping and cleaning, washing clothes and dishes, cooking, looking after young children or the elderly.

9. Most domestic workers are women and sometimes these may be young boys or girls. Even these domestic workers are not treated with little respect. They are working hard from early morning to late night. In many cases they are not permitted to eat completely.

10. Housework actually involves different tasks. Many of these require heavy physical works such as to fetch water, carry heavy head-loads, lifting and carrying articles etc., and in most of the cases these tasks are undertaken by the domestic workers.

Growing Up as Boys and Girls Class 7 CBSE Notes Important Terms

Identity: Identity is a sense of self-awareness of who one is. Typically, a person can have several identi­ties. For example, person can be a girl, a sister and a musician.

Double-burden: Literally, it means a double load. This term is commonly used to describe the women’s work situation; their outside and inside the homework.

Care-giving: Caregiving refers to a range of tasks related to looking after and nurturing.