Post by Tamrin on Sept 28, 2008 10:47:40 GMT 10
"Women's Work"
In his History, Gould tells us (1883, v.ii, p.491):
A metrical tradition of the German carpenters would read thus in English—If so, he probably had Eve do the work.When Adam suffered heat and cold
He built a hut, so we are told.
Anthropologists have found that providing shelter is typically, according to the “time-immemorial” customs and usages of recent and contemporary tribal societies, considered to be “women’s work.”
The examples here are not "famous" in the sense of the individuals being widely known in a Society for standing out from their group: Rather, in this case, it is the group of women builders which is "famous," being so widely known and accepted in the Society, that its individuals are simply taken for granted.
Citing Robert Briffault, Evelyn Reed informs us (1975, Woman’s Evolution: From Matriarchal Clan to Patriarchal Family, Pathfinder, Sydney, pp.121/2 & 175): "They built elaborate houses and even whole pueblos or towns. Briffault assembled voluminous data on this aspect of woman’s work as architect and engineer," of which the following is a portion.
The huts of the Australian, of the Andaman islanders, of the Patagonians, of the Botocudos, the rough shelters of the Seri, the skin lodges and wigwams of the American Indian, the black camel-hair tent of the Bedouin, the ‘yurta’ of the nomads of Central Asia, are all the exclusive work and the special care of the women ...
When Mr. Bogoras was studying the language of the Chukchi, he enquired from some men the names of the various parts of the framework of the house. But they were quite unable to inform him on that point; ‘I don’t know,’ they would answer, ‘that is woman’s business.’
... The earth-lodges of the Omahas were built entirely by the women. The ‘pueblos’ of New Mexico and Arizona ... Courtyards and piazzas, streets and curious round public buildings serving as clubs and temples, form part of these towns ... Those edifices are built exclusively by the women ... (The Mothers, vol.I, pp. 478-79).
The Spanish priests who settled among the Pueblo Indians were astonished not only at the beauty of the churches and convents built for them but by the fact that women built them. One priest observed in a report to his European countrymen that ‘no man had ever set his hand to the erection of a house.’
Pueblo
During the middle ages women participated in the guilds and companies of the building trades, including work as Stonemasons. In at least one instance, the average ratio of women to men among low-skilled labourers on building sites exceeded three to one.
On the far side of the equation, we may look at such work in modern, Western societies, where we find the participation of women persists to this day. Indeed, under 'Stonemason' in the New South Wales Job Guide for 1990, the final sentence specifically states, 'This field is open to both females and males.'