This article applies graph theory and blockmodeling to division of labor data de
veloped from the Standard Cross- Cultural Sample. Treating the statistical relation
ships as elements of a directed graph leads to several conclusions: 1) The extent of
women's participation in activities within the household maintenance domain is a
major precondition for the organization of other labor by women. 2) Patterns of
division of labor for men and women have different structures. 3) Some gender
based aspects of division of labor are more efficiently explained by functional rela
tionships among the activities themselves.
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