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The happy family tree

The aim is to enable participants to identify gender and age-related inequalities in paid and domestic work, and in household expenditure. This then enables them to identify the changes needed to achieve a balance, so that the family tree ’grows healthily’, is sustainable and prosperous, i.e. relationships within the family are more balanced and respectful.

This tool is also a way of involving men in household chores and care activities, with a view to establishing a better division of labour within the household, and involving women in household decision-making.

Content description

The Happy Family Tree is a tool for mixed-gender groups. During the first 40 minutes, the participants, making up a household, draw a tree that represents their contribution to the household. The tool is based on the participants’ individual analysis of their own situation, and aims to produce a quantification of the imbalances, by the participants themselves, with a view to convincing them to act on these imbalances.

Running time : approximately 2 hours

Practical use

> To begin the workshop, participants are divided into families (husband, wife, children, etc.). Remember that the exercise is confidential, but that those who wish can share examples as the workshop progresses.
Hand out a sheet of paper to each group, large enough for them to draw their family tree, and marker pens in 4 different colours : red, green, black and blue.

Step 1 - The trunk : who belongs to the household ?
10 minutes – Each family draws two lines in the middle of the sheet, to represent the trunk of the tree. They then draw each person in the household inside the trunk. The working women should be drawn on the left side of the trunk, in red. Working men should be drawn on the right-hand side, in green. Dependents are drawn in the middle of the trunk, in the colour that corresponds to their gender.

Step 2 - The roots : who contributes to which job ?
10 minutes – Invitez les participant.e.s à dessiner 5 racines :

two roots for women on the left,
two roots for men on the right,
the central root is dedicated to common activities.

On the outer root of each side, ask the participants to use symbols to draw the activities that people of this gender carry out on their own to earn an income. You can distinguish between adults, children, the elderly, etc.
Circle in black those that take the longest, such as a situation you might want to change.
Draw a blue circle around those that generate the most income, the thickness of the circle corresponds to the amount of income.

On the inner roots, draw the activities that people of each gender carry out alone for the benefit of the family. For example : household chores. Circle the most time-consuming activities in black.

On the central root, draw the activities that women and men do together that generate income, placing the drawing on the side of the sex that does the most.

Step 3 - The branches : who gets what fruit ?
10 minutes – Ask each family to draw five branches corresponding to each root : women, men and the central trunk for common household expenses.
On the outside arm of each side, draw symbols of the expenses that each gender spends on himself/herself. Circle the most important personal expenses in black.
On the inner branches, , draw the household expenses paid by one person. Circle the largest expenses in black.
Finally, in the middle branch, draw the common expenses, placing the symbol on the side of the gender that spends the most. Circle in black the biggest expenses.

Step 4 - What makes the tree grow ?
10 minutes - On their respective sides of the trunk, draw the things that women and men own.
For example :

Who owns the land ? The livestock ? The house ?
Then indicate the types of decisions that women and men make.
For example :
Which decisions are taken only by women ? by men ? jointly ?
Does one person make all the decisions ?
Do the couple always make decisions together ?
Approximately 30 minutes - Ask the participants to observe the tree and analyse the situation together :
Are the activities balanced ?
Does one gender do more work ?
Does one gender own more property ?

Step 5 - Action : what do we want to change ?
Ask the participants to circle with a new colour the things that they like and that help the tree to balance. These things don’t need to change.
Then ask people to think about how to improve the balance of the tree :

What tasks should be carried out jointly ?
What expenditure could be reduced ?
What assets should be shared ?
After some thought, ask them to identify 5 action commitments to balance the tree. Participants can write down these commitments on a separate sheet of paper to take home.

In conclusion, the participants can share their commitments in a plenary session and inspire each other.

A few best practices

Make sure that everyone in the household is involved and that discriminatory opinions do not dominate.
Identify the people who support the changes and ask them to speak out. The more the participants who support the change express themselves and defend their points of view to others, the stronger the change will be in your absence.
As a facilitator, try to speak last to clarify or challenge contradictions, or simply to point out observations.

What’s the final word ?

Women are often faced with unpaid domestic work and a lack of control over their income. This situation hinders their ability to develop their power to act, whether for their own well-being or for the well-being of their household.
Changing behaviour, sharing the workload, decision making process and assets within the household, can significantly improve the quality of life for all members of the household.