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 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.
An illustration
of Egyptian women making linen cloth
Women in
Ancient Egypt
Women's Clothing and Fashion in
Ancient Egypt
 • 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.
Lei-tzu or Si Ling-Chi
 • 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.
Vietnam's Silk Road
• 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 - Iran
• Carpet weaving and, earlier,
carpet tying have often been the province of women in Turkish and Anatolian
culture.
Women
and Carpet Weaving in Turkey
 • 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.
About
Native American Arts & Crafts
 • 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.
Women in the
Revolutionary Era
• 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.
On Power Looms,
1828
 • 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."
Bauhaus story:
Top
Picks: Books on Women and Weaving
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.
Text
copyright 1999-2006 ©
Jone Johnson Lewis.
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