Gender entails the socio-cultural construction and interpretation of masculinity and femininity. It defines fundamental relations of power in forming individual and collective identity, and its meaning and value in the fabric of society. This article describes gender role patterns in a Tongan island. A remarkable aspect of labour division here is that men’s work includes agriculture: a typically feminine task in this region. The article explores the historical evolution of this gender role stereotyping. Pre-contact skeletal research indicates that women worked in the gardens and men went fishing in the sea. According to one hypothesis, this shifted when the Tongan islands became centralized and tightly organized under the high chiefs so that inter-tribal strife could be more easily managed. Another argument is that this pattern did not emerge until during the 19th century, under missionary influence, and during the civil war when it would have been dangerous for women to work outside the home.