Employers, both women and men, may discriminate in favour of men, who are seen as “unencumbered” by reproductive responsibilities, or use womens assumed status as secondary earners to justify paying them less. Discriminatory laws, policies and programmes can reproduce gender inequalities through assumptions about mens primary wage-earning roles and womens domestic roles which often bear no resemblance to reality. Agency” is concerned with the extent to which women and men are able to challenge the constraints in their lives.