Abstract
In the article "Factors in the Division of Labor by Sex," Murdock says that when simple artifacts are replaced by more complex ones men take over the work. The only example given is the shift from hoe to plow agriculture. With hand-spinning and -weaving, one can document the opposite trend. Both crafts have been done primarily by women from their inception in Neolithic times to the present. Over the centuries, women learned to work with new innovations. In Europe, guilds and men took over weaving. Men rioted against improved looms that made weaving easier and faster. Before mechanization of spinning and weaving in the 19th century, these were the most labor-intensive and time-consuming of all activities. Cloth has been an important trade item in a number of societies from ancient times to the present. Therefore, women spinners and weavers made significant contributions to the labor force and economies of many societies, which have often been unrecognized.
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