Sex typing of Work

Anthropologist George Murdock (1937) analyzed data that researchers had reported on 324 societies around the world. He found that in all of them, activities are sex typed. Every society associates certain activities with one sex or the other. He also found that activities that are considered “female” in one society might be considered “male” in another.

He also found out that the making weapons and hunting was almost universally the domain of men, but in a few societies women participated in these activities.

Although Murdock found no specific work that was universally as- signed only to women, he did find that making clothing, cooking, carrying water, and grinding grain were almost always female tasks. In a few societies, however, such activities were regarded as men’s work.

Credit: Notes from James M Henslin, “Sociology- A Down to Earth Approach”