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Women's Work: The First 20, 000 Years - Women, Cloth and Society in Early Times
  
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Women's Work: The First 20, 000 Years - Women, Cloth and Society in Early Times (Hardcover)

by Elizabeth Wayland Barber (Author) "For millennia women have sat together spinning, weaving, and sewing ..." (more)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: WW Norton & Co (8 Feb 1995)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0393035069
  • ISBN-13: 978-0393035063
  • Product Dimensions: 24.8 x 16.5 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,187,877 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description

2500 years ago, the women of Athens slaved at home, virtual prisoners of their husbands, expected to provide the cloth and clothing for their family. 4000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, there was a very different picture: respectable women were in business, weaving textiles at home to be sold abroad for gold and silver. Going back even further, 20,000 years ago women began making and wearing the first clothing created from spun fibres. Indeed, for over 20,000 years, until the Industrial Revolution, the arts of weaving belonged primarily to women and were the principal vehicle for demonstrating their various roles as mother, provider, worker, entrepreneur and artist.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Never done..., 15 Sep 2005
This review is from: Women's Work: The First 20, 000 Years - Women, Cloth and Society in Early Times (Paperback)
What is the characteristic essential to make a job "women's work"? It has to be something they can do while caring for children.

Starting from this insight, the author takes us on a fascinating trail through several thousand years of textile history, relating it to her own life and women's lives in general. Among the things that stay with you are the story of the "string skirt" described in Homer, seen on early "Venus" fertility figures, and tried out by the author with surprising results. Or how Danish women used to be trained to weave and started by making their own trousseau -- with the quantities of towels carefully judged to last a lifetime. Or how the author tried to recreate a piece of plaid over 2000 years old and had a sudden insight into how it was woven when she had it on the loom.

This book is a companion piece to Barber's scholarly volume on ancient textiles (also highly recommended for the serious-minded), adding a human and sometimes very personal dimension.

Anyone who has the weaving or spinning bug, loves yarns and textiles or simply wants to know more about the way our ancestresses lived, will find this a satisfying and illuminating read.

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars an accidental find that was just what I was looking for., 18 Feb 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Women's Work: The First 20, 000 Years - Women, Cloth and Society in Early Times (Paperback)
I am an obstetrician/gynecologist, who was a hand weaver before going to medical school. I have always enjoyed reading about archeology. I didn't know I was looking for this book until I found it. The fiber arts have always been women's work. How women's production of fiber and fabrics was interwoven with the functioning of different ancient societies is explored in this very readable book. I was especially taken by the idea of the Fates as the midwives waiting for a delivery and spinning thread; and the newborn's fate is the spun thread.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Women's Work: the first 20,000 years, 29 Jan 2008
This review is from: Women's Work: The First 20, 000 Years - Women, Cloth and Society in Early Times (Paperback)
Fascinating! I found this by chance in the library yesterday - it narrates the history of textiles from the very beginning, the invention of spinning and weaving, the reasons why cloth production has been the responsibility of women. I have always been interested in textiles, and this is one of the most useful introductions to the history of textiles I have found.
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