Culture?

"Men and women are equals," said our uncle while helping us carry the food from the living room to the kitchen. But after putting the food down on the kitchen floor, womens rights was not a subject just a matter of culture. In Saharawi culture their are many conflicting traditions. On the one hand women have to do the dishes and men have to get water, on the other hand women are represented in the camps' councils by at least 90 %. The women are in charge of organizing the rations of food that the camps receive from humanitarian organizations. So when can you talk about equal rights and when can something be classified as culture? Are you discriminating when you say that men can't do the dishes because it is a womens job, or is that simply one's traditon?