ABSTRACT
The first three chapters present a historical account of the development of the dairy industry in Sweden from 1870 to 1940, focusing on its gradual transition from an exclusively womanly to a predominantly masculine field as it was centralized and mechanized. This chapter considers why caring for and milking cows and making butter and cheese for household use and sale was regarded as women's domain. Drawing on historical documents, ethnographic observations, and folklore, it shows that the strong association of women with milk in preindustrial culture meant that men did not enter the cowshed or participate in the physically demanding and exacting tasks involved in making dairy products. It explains the techniques women used to manufacture butter and cheese on farm households through the mid-nineteenth century.
