HISTORICAL AND CURRENT PATTERNS AND PRACTICES IN PAID AND UNPAID LABOUR IN RELATION TO GENDER ISSUES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Gender which is used to describe socially constructed roles and behavior for males and females has a broad evolutionary record which dates far back into periods when our ancestors were hunters and gatherers. Then it was easily conceptualized that men are better adapted to some activities and women better adapted to others (Maiolo, et al, 1991). It is important to state that though cross-cultural studies show that ideas about what is appropriate masculine and feminine behavior vary widely, whatever the ideas, parents and others go to great lengths to distinguish girls from boys in the socialization process. This has been reflective of the labor situation in modern world, although modern world has shown that for most activities sex differences are irrelevant; ethnographic records suggest that this is not true and that gender based inequalities contribute significantly to the current patterns and practices in paid and unpaid labor world wide.