Class 7 Civics Chapter 4 Question Answers - Growing Up as Boys and Girls

Q1. Describe the life of the Samoan people in 1920s.
Ans:

• As soon as babies could walk, their mothers or other adults no longer looked after them.
• Some children at 5 years of age, took over this responsibility.
• Both boys and girls looked after their younger siblings.
• At the age of nine years boys joined the other boys in learning outdoor jobs like fishing and planting coconuts.
• Girls continue looking after small children or do errands for adults till they were teenagers.
• After becoming teenagers girls had much more freedom.
• After the age of fourteen or so, girls also went on fishing trips, worked in the plantations, learnt how to weave baskets.
• Cooking was done in special cooking-houses, where boys did most of the work.
• Girls helped with the preparations of the food.

Q2. Give an account of the growing up in Madhya Pradesh in the 1960s.
Ans:
Grooving up in Madhya Pradesh in the 1960s:

• From class VI onwards boys and girls went to separate schools.
• Girls school was designed very differently from the boys school.
• They had a central courtyard where they played in total seclusion and safety from the outside world.
• The boys school had no such courtyard and the playground was a big space attached to the school.
• Every evening after the school, the boys watched as hundreds of school girls crowded the narrow streets as they looked very purposeful.
• The boys used the streets for different things like to stand around idling, to play, to try out tricks with their bicycles.
• For the girls, the street was simply a place to get straight home.
• The girls always went in groups, perhaps because they also carried fears of being teased or attacked by boys or other bad elements.

Q3. How does the society make a distinction between girls dnd boys?
Ans:

• From the young age society make a clear distinction between the two genders. Boys are given cars and girls are given dolls.
• Through the toys the difference starts. The girls are dressed differently, are asked to speak softly. Boys on the other hand play different games, are considered to be tough.
• Through this the children are conditioned to play the specific role when they grow up. , This even affects our subject and career choices later in the life.

Q4. What happens at Harmeet’s house?
Ans:
Harmeet and his father were of the opinion that Jaspreet is a housewife and does not work. Jaspreet decides to go on strike for one day.
Next day there was chaos at their house:

• Children got up late missed their school bus.
• There was no water as pump wasn’t switched on.
• Harsharan, Harmeet’s father had no breakfast and had to drop kids to school.
• The children went without lunch. Their mother gave them money for the canteen.
• In the evening there was no tea for Harsharan and house was also untidy.
• This made them understand that housework is also important and should be valued.

Q5. Describe the lives of domestic workers as given in the chapter.
Ans:

• In the given chapter, Harmeet’s mother was not the only one who did the housework.
• A lot of the work was done by Mangala, their domestic help(ef).
• Many homes, particularly in towns and cities, employ domestic workers.
• They do a lot of work—sweeping and cleaning, washing clothes and dishes, cooking, looking after young children or the elderly.
• Most domestic workers are women.
• Sometimes even young boys or girls are employed to do this work.
• Wages are low, as domestic work does not have much value.
• A domestic worker’s day begins as early as five in the morning and ends as late as twelve at night.
• Despite the hard work they do, their employers often do not pay them enough on show them much respect.

Q6. What does housework involve?
Ans:
The housework actually involves many different tasks.
A number of these tasks require heavy physical work:

• In both Rural and Urban areas women and girls fetch water.
• In rural areas women and girls carry heavy headloads of firewood.
• Tasks like washing clothes, cleaning, sweeping and picking up loads require bending, lifting and carrying.
• Many chores like cooking, involve standing for long hours in front of hot stoves.
• The women’s work is strenuous and physically demanding, words associated with men.

Q7. Explain another aspect of housework.
Ans:
Another aspect of housework is ‘care giving”.

• This aspect is related to looking after the children and nurturing them.
• Taking care of the elderly or ill people in the home.
• All this requires strong emotional aspect along with physical labour.
• In fact if we add up the work (housework) and care giving time women work much more than men.
• Now with women working even outside homes their leisure time has further been reduced.

Q8. What does our Constitution say about discrimination?
Ans:

• Our Constitution says that there should be no discrimination on the basis of gender (male or female).
• In reality inequality between the sexes exists.
• The government recognises that burden of childcare and housework falls on women and girls.
• This naturally has an impact on the girls attending the school.
• It determines whether women work outside the house and their jobs and careers.
• Government has set up anganwadis or child care centres in villages.
• The government has passed laws that make it mandatory for organisations that have more than 30 women employees to provide creche facilities.
• The provision of Creches helps many women to take up employment outside the home.
• It also makes it possible for more girls to attend schools.

Q9. Briefly write about life of domestic worker Melani?
Ans:
Melani worked in Delhi as a domestic worker for a rich family. She had to do all the work along with two other girls.

• They got up at 5 o’clock and got a cup of tea with two dry chapattis as breakfast.
• They cleaned the house and did all other work.
• In evening Melani cooked food. She secretly cooked extra rotis for herself and other two girls.
• They could not wear chappals in the house even in winters.

Q10. Why is the work of men and women not valued equally?
Ans:
In most societies the work of men and women is valued differently.

• Men work outside the house.
• Women do all the household chores like cleaning, washing, cooking, care giving etc.
• These works are not considered real works and are not recognized as work.
• It is assumed that these come naturally to women. These do not have to be paid for.
• Society devalues this work.