Women’s triple role refers to a reproductive, productive and community managing role. The way these forms are valued affects the way women and men set priorities in planning programmes or projects. The taking or not taking into consideration of these forms can enhance or limit women’s chances of taking advantage of development opportunities.
In most societies, low-income women undertake all three roles, while men primarily undertake productive and community politics activities, which usually generate payment, status or power.
The reproductive role of women includes the care and maintenance of the actual and future workforce of the family (childbearing responsibilities and domestic tasks). The productive role of women relates to work performed by women and men for pay in cash or kind (market production, informal production, home production, subsistence production). The community managing role of women includes work mostly related to care and unpaid work, and provision of collective resources as water, healthcare, etc.