A STORY OF WORK

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 110, 11 May 1934, Page 11

A STORY OF WORK

WOMEN IN MIDDLE ACES

In an address on "Women''in. tho Middle Ages," Miss A. Candy, assistant lecturer at Canterbury College, advanced two interesting theories: one,

that tho emergence of women into economic life was not altogether a. new development; secondly, that women, had not neglected their homes to becomo wage-earners, but that, as a result of the industrial revolution, a woman could no longer employ all her energies in domestic duties.

She spoke of the Englishwomen of the thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, when each household was practically self-contained, and all that was worn or consumed was made on the premises, so that the housewife and her daughters had their time fully occupied. At the same time, household work did not consist of dish-washing and much sweeping or cleaning; tho main duty of the housewife of tho manor was to see that sufficient was grown and stored to last '.her.family for a season. .S.he sometimes had to. supervise a staff.of as many as 500 retainers, do a certain amount of entertaining and take tho place of her husband if he were-' away. This last task in collecting rents, superintending tho work of the bailiff, and sitting oil the bench of manorial courts. The peasant woman, besides cooking, brewing, and dairy work, worked in the fields and lietyed with the shearing, harvesting, ' and ploughing.

The "superfluous" woman of- the upper classes went into a nunnery, but for the humbler woman all industries and crafts were open on equal terms with men. In trades such as baking, brewing, and spinning she had the monopoly, but there were also Women plumbers, blacksmiths, miners, and the like. Miss Candy contended that there is far less sedpo for the present-day woman. "I hope I have proved' my ease to you," she concluded.