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Weaving - Ancient to Modern Women

Traditionally in many different cultures, weaving has been a women's craft. This article explores some of the historical connections of women and weaving.

Weaving has usually been associated with women, in many cultures and times. Today, weaving is a popular handicraft and art for many women.
Until the Industrial Revolution, spinning and weaving were time-consuming and essential household tasks. The Industrial Revolution began, in large part, as mechanization of the production of textiles, and so this change in weaving and cloth-making production meant immense changes in women's lives -- and may have helped to give rise to the movements for women's rights.

Carpet and basket production -- also both weaving tasks -- were crucial parts of the household economy from the Americas to Asia from very early times.

Here are a few of the highlights in the history of weaving women, with some links for more details.

• In ancient Egypt, weaving linen and spinning thread were important activities of the household economy.
• China credits Si-ling-chi, wife of the prince Hoang-ti, with discovery of the usefulness of silkworm thread and the methods of weaving silk thread and of raising silkworms, all about 2700 BCE.
• Vietnamese history credits several women with the introduction of silkworm breeding and weaving -- and even has a legend crediting a Vietnamese princess with the discovery of the use of silkworm.
• Persian rugs are still well known: Persia (Iran) has long been a center of carpet production. Women, and children under women's guidance, were central to the production of this practical and artistic creation, crucial to the economy as well as the arts in early and modern Iran.
• Carpet weaving and, earlier, carpet tying have often been the province of women in Turkish and Anatolian culture.
• Navaho Indians in the Southwest of the United States tell how Spider Woman taught women the skills of loom weaving. Navaho or Navajo rugs are still popular for their beauty and practicality.
• In Revolutionary era America, the boycott of British goods, including inexpensive manufactured cloth, meant that more women went back to home production of cloth. Spinning wheels were a symbol of independence and freedom.
• In Europe and America, in the 18th and 19th century, the invention of the power loom helped speed the Industrial Revolution. Women, especially young unmarried women, soon began leaving home to work in the new textile production factories using this technology.
• In the 20th century, women have reclaimed weaving as an art. In the Bauhaus movement, women were virtually relegated to the loom, however, as sexual stereotyping shaped assumptions about "women's art."

Pictures in this article were taken at the 2002 Smithsonian Folk Festival "The Silk Road: Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust" in Washington, D.C., by Jone Johnson Lewis. and are all © 2002 Jone Johnson Lewis, licensed to About, all other rights reserved.

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