ABSTRACT
Trade has become a predominantly feminine calling and women handle not only foodstuffs and handicrafts but also the expensive items of trade which are now usually imported goods. The rise of towns, and the role which women play in the trade of these towns, has modified the role of the wife in that it has diminished the dominance of the husband both in regard to his ability to control his wife economically and sexually. One quickly perceives here that the size of the market and the number of women traders is a function of the size of the town. The farm activities of the women were done in the old days in company with other women to each of whom the wife had a definite relationship either through her own lineage or through her husband's.
