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Theme: Gender Relations of the Peasants in France
Argument:
Sexual division of labor clearly exists in peasant France as illustrated by Pierre Jean Baptiste’s, F.Y. Besnard’s, and Bonnie Smith’s articles. The men and women held gendered roles in society. This division labor is not only divided according to one’s gender but also according to one’s class background.
Supporting Evidence (2 examples):
Baptiste:
“A part of the night is spent threshing the wheat that is needed for seeding. At dawn, he goes to plant it; and then he continues to plow and so on, until the seed is sown. At this time he gets scarcely even a few hours of sleep…” (p.145) ßMen of lower class
“It is the women who are burdened with all the details of the housework. It is they who milk the cows, make butter and cheese. Thus they get up earlier and go to bed later than the men…” (p.147) ß Women of a lower class status
Besnard:
“It is true that the women were rarely employed in hard work out-of-doors, and never in grain threshing, for example. The women did not breast feed the infants, who where bottle-fed with cow’s milk.” (p.151) ßWomen of a higher class status
(p.152) Second paragraph, where the wages of men and women were listed and of what class status they were in. ßi.e. first plowhand received a higher wage than the carters… and so forth.
Smith:
“Everyone’s work in early modern times was tedious. Like men’s, women’s common task involve danger, repetition, skill, and physical strength. (p.9)
“In the eighteenth century women’s reproductive role was a coordinate of their productive life…” (p.12)
Connection:
There is an overwhelming amount of evidence in the both the primary and secondary sources illustrating how class plays a prominent role in sexual division labor amongst the peasants in France. I will be connecting theses pieces of evidence together to show how men’s and women’s roles were different and how their roles were predetermined by their class status.