ABSTRACT

Hardly a house in town or near aldea is without a woman (mother or daughter) who weaves, embroiders, sews, makes soap or cheese, bakes bread, fattens pigs, picks eggs, or is otherwise involved in cottage industry. The home production of saleable items is a mainstay of the female productive strategy, and it is a sensible, convenient system. This chapter examines the world of female domestic production in light of the town's development. It does this by contrasting women's traditional autonomous production with the new kinds of cottage industry that have replaced it in the 1980s. The chapter presents a few important considerations that surround this discussion. Cottage industry is perfectly adapted to the fulfillment of culturally derived expectations for maintaining the family and earning a living at the same time. Women who have not developed reliable cottage industries of their own eagerly accept an exploitative work because it is easy and requires little organization or business acumen.