Taken from the Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry, this miniature illustrates the month of June. The work is done by both men and women. XIV century. Condé Museum, Chantilly • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS An English ballad from the end of the 15th th century depicts a couple of peasants arguing over who works the most. The husband only claims that he plows the land all day. The wife, on the contrary, enumerates all the tasks she performs:she milks the cows, makes butter and cheese, raises chickens, bakes bread, brews beer, works linen and wool, repairs clothes. , works on household chores, takes care of the children and cleans the house before her husband gets up. And yet, despite these multiple activities and these heavy burdens incumbent on women, it was often the medieval peasants who left their mark in history, as their plow dug deep the furrow in the fields. Gender dichotomy and female submission It is the men, in fact, who carry out the most visible and rewarding activities, who are the “chefs de feu” (responsible for the household) and who therefore receive the income from the family business. At equal activity, the salary of women represents three quarters, even half, of that of men, because they are considered to be less physically strong and less qualified, that they work shorter hours and that they are taken on by domestic chores preventing them from devoting themselves full-time to remunerated activity. At the beginning of the XII th century, Bishop Gilbert of Limerick, taking up the famous medieval tripartite classification (prayer, work and combat), sums up this dichotomy of the sexes and this feminine submission perfectly:"I am not saying that the function of women is to pray, to plow or to fight, but they are married to those who pray and plow and fight, and serve them. » However, the images and texts show that the vast majority of agricultural activities are mixed, especially the heavy work concentrated over a few weeks, during which the entire community of both sexes and all ages must be mobilized:the harvest in July and in August, grape harvest in September and October, sheafing, shearing of sheep, haymaking in June, slaughter of pigs in December or herding large animals. This strong mix does not prevent a gendered distribution of tasks and a hierarchy. When men and women are depicted working together, it is always the man who owns the tool. During the harvest, the women and children pick the grapes, while the men carry the hoods to the carts, carry out the treading, the vatting and especially the pressing. When men and women are shown working together, it is always the man who owns the tool. When the woman also has one, it is less complex, with the exception of the harvest, where the small sickles are more often mixed. The woman's gesture is always timid, barely allowing her instrument to be seen, while the man often has his sickle raised, ready to fall in a very sweeping gesture. The man cuts the kindling, while the woman makes the fagots. He holds the sickle to prune the vine, while she picks up the vine shoots strewn on the ground and makes bundles of them which will be used to feed the fire or proceeds to the accolage (the fixing of the vine shoot on the stake). The handling of the small sickle hardly requires great physical strength. Masculine domination by the tool is still manifested in the slaughter of the pig, a central activity since this act depends on the food of the whole year. The big mass that falls on the skull of the animal or the knife that cuts its throat is always in the hands of men; the women, auxiliaries, hold a container to collect the bubbling blood or turn it with a stick to prevent it from coagulating. The man then, still armed, butchers the animal hanging on a hook, while the woman, without tools, washes the offal in a large wooden basin and places the cleaned tripe in a smaller container. In the hours or days following the slaughter, the women are busy in the kitchen cleaning the guts, making blood sausage, sausages or head cheese. Essential help, but less In the imagery, female rural work is characterized by a relative continuity between domestic tasks and production tasks:taking care of the house as one maintains the stable, cooking food for men and animals at the same time. Women are often depicted with distaff in hand, milking cows or making butter. Men have a monopoly on activities where there is physical contact with the earth. Spade, turn, plow and sow, then thresh and winnow the grain. On the other hand, men have a monopoly on activities where there is physical contact with the earth. Digging, turning, plowing and sowing, then threshing and winnowing the grain. However, the reality is different. At Joan of Arc's trial, one of her many godfathers stated that "in her youth, and until she left her father's house, she went to the plow and sometimes tended the animals in the fields". . Another witness explains “that she cultivates the land with her father”. In 1456, her friends recall that she accompanied her parent to the harvest, helped him push the plow and pull the harrow. An illumination, taken from a manuscript of 1460-1475 offering the French translation of a Latin treatise from the beginning of the 14 th century, the Book of rural and rural profits , embodies this discourse. Twelve medallions symbolize the months of the year by representing one or more characters. The women are never shown alone, and they are only present in three medallions, while the work of each other is a necessity for the survival of the peasant family. These representations make it possible to observe the gestures of men and women, and the objects used, to try to interpret them and to reveal the roles assigned to each sex. This iconography shows less rural activities than the social construction of gender inequality. Find out more History of women in the West. II. The Middle Ages, G. Duby, M. Perrot, C. Klapisch-Zuber, Perrin (Tempus), 2002. Women in the city:embroidering, weaving, spinning… In the towns of northern England, at the end of the 14th th century, it is estimated that 20 to 30% of the female population over the age of 14 works as a domestic. Some women practice this activity temporarily, a few years before getting married. Others, by choice or because they are too poor to build up a sufficient dowry, remain celibate and domestic all their lives. Still others become servants again following the death of their husbands. In the textile sector, if the men are mainly weavers or fullers, the women, very present, mainly carry out subordinate and dependent activities, or for which it is considered that dexterity and precision are required:spinning , sewing, embroidery, silk and gold work, haberdashery, thrift store. In the 15th th century, in Venice, the silk winding sector is entirely run by women. They therefore intervene at intermediate stages of production, with moderate profits. They are less numerous in high-profit trades such as drapery, weaving or the large silk trade.
