YOUTH AND GENDER

The concept of gender refers to the social distribution of roles and responsibilities of men and women that influence options, habits and performances.

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This social distribution of roles places men in the public sphere of production and women in the private sphere of reproduction and care of others. Gender is a social economic variable influenced by social class, race, religion, economic background, age, etc. Therefore, a gender perspective on youth and work increases our capacity to explain and unveil the unequal set of opportunities and needs between young women and men. During childhood and adolescence identity is formed through a process by which young people accept ascribed roles and identify with given models of behaviour. Gendered roles become a constraining frame through which identity and life projects are constructed. Thus, young men are prepared for productive work in adult life and women as mothers and caregivers. Both life projects have historically been seen as inevitable and adequate yet, while the former leads to economic independence and full citizenship, the latter leads to dependence and delegated citizenship. Therefore, female youth is clearly distinct from male youth. The fact that reproductive work, childcare and household chores are seen as the natural responsibility of women constitutes a major obstacle that women have to confront in order to achieve equal opportunities. In effect, this attribution of roles determines an unequal access and control of resources, which negatively affects women self esteem, self-confidence, and eventually lowers their social and labour performance. This negative chain of causes increases the vulnerability of women to family and sexual violence. It also determines an unequal access to household goods. A gender perspective is therefore critical for a better understanding of youth and labour. Roles are defined at childhood and become the building block of identity. Therefore as this basic cultural notions become ingrained in women’s beliefs -regarding what men and woman are supposed to do, what the value of their activities are and what the relations with their parents and husbands should be- and translate into the sphere of labour, the basis for the sexual division of labour is laid out. In this section a series of documents with a gender perspective are presented, as well as facts and statistics of Latin America. New materials are forthcoming.

 

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