Katie Starkweather: University of New Mexico

Gendered divisions of labor are an essential aspect of human life. The two primary components of the gendered division of labor – subsistence work and childcare – are critical for child survival, health, and well-being, as well as the reproductive success of parents. In most human societies, women and men display similar, gendered patterns of behavior in meeting the subsistence and childcare needs of the household. Human behavioral ecologists have developed theory to explain those trends, but still have very little understanding of deviation from them, particularly regarding women’s work. Among Shodagor people in Bangladesh, a semi-nomadic, boat-dwelling community, women’s work varies in the extent to which it adheres to cross-cultural norms of compatibility with childcare and risk aversion. This talk will highlight some of my recent work on the health outcomes and reproductive decision-making that are associated with women’s work when it is incompatible with childcare and produces high levels of economic risk. Preliminary evidence suggests that women who engage in these cross-culturally unusual behaviors are making tradeoffs related to child health and nutrition and are strategically making reproductive decisions that may allow them to maximize time spent working. I will discuss upcoming plans for a project that is based on based on these findings and involves a more detailed assessment of adult and child health outcomes as they relate to women’s work and childcare.