Meiotic division occurs in two stages, meiosis I and meiosis II, dividing the cells once at each stage. Meiosis I separates homologous chromosomes, producing two haploid cells (N chromosomes, 23 in humans), and thus meiosis I is referred to as a reductional division. In meiosis II, an equational division similar to mitosis will occur whereby the sister chromatids are finally split, creating a total of 4 haploid cells (23 chromosomes, N) - two from each daughter cell from the first division.