Meiosis is a type of cell division that produces gametes, such as sperm or egg cells, with half the normal number of chromosomes. It involves two rounds of cell division, meiosis I and meiosis II, which result in four haploid daughter cells each containing a single set of chromosomes. During meiosis I, homologous chromosomes pair and separate, reducing the chromosome number by half. Meiosis II then separates the sister chromatids, resulting in four haploid cells that can fuse during fertilization. Meiosis ensures genetic variation between offspring by independent assortment and crossing over of homologous chromosomes.