Over the centuries, society has determined the roles and responsibilities of men and women and prescribed how we should behave. This has placed women in an inferior position to men and left them coping with what is called a 'triple burden'.

In order to clarify the different roles of men and women, sociologists broke them down into:

• Productive role - activities that bring income into a household, whether it's paid employment, small scale entrepreneurial ventures or agricultural work on family plots
• Reproductive role - this involves not just bearing, looking after and educating children, but also maintenance of the home, such as gathering water and firewood, cooking, washing clothes and growing food for home consumption.
• Community role - activities undertaken, without pay, at the community level. These could be anything from organising community services and social events, to participation in local politics.

When these roles are analysed, it can be seen that women have to balance the demands of all three roles, the 'triple burden', while most men are largely involved in just the productive and community roles. Their contribution to the reproductive role is often limited.

This places the majority of women in an inferior position to men, and left with very little time to change their unequal status. Add to this the customs and traditions that limit most women's involvement in society, and the reason why there is so much focus on empowering women becomes clear.