Re: MR: Huswifery

[tawnyk@juno.com (SHANA M HARVEY)]

Poster: tawnyk@juno.com (SHANA M HARVEY)

On Tue, 18 Mar 1997 13:03 -0500 (EST) "Ed Hopkins" <Ed.Hopkins@MCI.Com>
writes:
> OTOH, maybe the tradition of discouraging boys from this activity has
died out, 
>so maybe boys showed just as much interest.  OTGH, maybe the traditional
gender
>difference is not cultural but innate.  So I wonder...
>-- Alfredo

Actually, I've recently found that the majority of commercial fiber
products were a male dominated craft in period, especially when you get
to the weaving of broadcloths.  The logic seems to follows the credo of 
"If it makes money, they will come and take over."   Spinning and narrow
ware (silk ribbons, braids, etc. ) were the work of children and women
because their hands were better adapted to the delicate nature of the
work.  According to Kay Lacey, a writer/researcher of 14th-15th c.
textiles:   "Perhaps it was due to the deftness of a womans nimble
fingers that these occupations were female activities....It was stated
by the writer of a trade manual that womens nimble fingers were
necessary in these processes because of the delicate nature of the
work." ( "The production of Narrow Ware by Silkwomen in Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Century England", Textile History, 18(2), 187-204, 1987.)
In an additional article, Ms. Lacey shows the other side of the coin
where  "...the ordinances of Norwich worsted weavers of 1511, in which
women were forbidden to weave certain cloths because they had not
sufficient strength for the work." (Lacey, Kay.  "The London Silkwomen
of the Fifteenth Century", The Economic History Review, 4(1), 
324-335, 1932.)  
Keep in mind that this was mostly in England.  I am unsure if the same
holds true for the continent and other places.  I do know that narrow
ware was part of the male-dominated silk guild in Italy and France.  So
this may just be an English thing, I'd need to do more research to be
sure.
Enjoying a subject near and dear to my heart!
Tawny
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