These gender roles are firmly engrained in the local culture and institutions. While it was implicitly assumed in the past that the household head would compensate family members for their labour with the income gained from oil palm production, in reality, female household members were often not being compensated for their work. In many cases, this led to intra-household struggles and to women withdrawing their labour from loose fruit collection and focusing instead on vegetable production, which allowed them to earn, and keep, an income.