‘What is your job?’ asked the doctor.

‘I am a farmer’ replied Mr. Mayo.

‘Have you any children’? The doctor asked.

‘God has been good to me.  Of 15 born, only 9 alive’ Mr. Mayo answered.

‘Does your wife work?’

‘No, she stays at home’.

‘I see. How does she spend her day?’

‘Well, she gets up at four in the morning, fetches water and wood, makes the fire, cooks breakfast and cleans the homestead.  Then she goes to the river and washes clothes.  Once a week she walks to the grinding mill.  After that she goes to the township with the two smallest children where she sells tomatoes by the roadside while she knits.  She buys what she wants from the shops.  Then she cooks the midday meal.’

‘You come home at midday’?

‘No, no she brings the meal to me about three kilometers away’.

‘And after that?’

‘She stays in the field to do the weeding, and then goes to the vegetable garden to water’.

‘What do you do?’

‘I must go and discuss business and drink with the men in the village’.

‘And after that?’

‘I go home for supper which my wife has prepared’.

‘Does she go to bed after supper’?

‘No. I do.  She has things to do around the house until 9 or 10.’

‘But I thought you said your wife does not work’.

‘Of course she doesn’t work.  I told you she stays at home’.

(Source: Presented by the Women and Development Sub-Committee Ministry of Community Development and Community Affairs, Zimbabwe to Women’s Regional Ecumenical Workshop)