HIST-102 Lecture 57: Division of Labour By Sex
14 Oct 2020
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Document Summary
A fairly sharp division of labor existed between the sexes. Men performed the bulk of the heavy labor on the manor plowing, planting, harvesting, milling, storing, butchering and carting while their wives and daughters tended the domestic scene. Food preparation, child care, ale brewing, vegetable gardening, and cloth weaving filled most women"s days. Wives generally had little property of their own and little right to control whatever they did have. By long-standing custom, a woman regarded as the legal property of her father since birth became at marriage the legal property of her husband. Harsh living conditions, poor food, the difficulties of childbirth, and the widespread custom of wife-beating resulted in a life expectancy much lower for northern women than men. Numerous restrictions, both legal and cultural, shaped northern women"s lives. Society both valued and feared women"s sexual allure, but sexual prudishness was not necessarily characteristic of peasant culture.
