ABSTRACT
Women have been actively involved in the production and consumption of ceramics in most societies. The cultural, economic and political history of women's engagement with ceramics is a complex one, drawing on traditions from non-Western cultures as well as being fundamentally affected by the development of capitalism and patriarchy in the West from the eighteenth century. In Britain, the focus of this study both women's relationship to ceramics and the description of this in the history of ceramics has been essentially patriarchal. For feminists, Cooper and Cliff demonstrate the ways in which women ceramic designers of the 1930s in Britain challenged the patriarchal boundaries of the pottery industry, helping to change the nature of women's engagement with ceramics. The relationships between ceramics and feminism are fruitful avenues for further investigation, not least because of the longevity, pervasiveness and complexity of women's engagement with this area of cultural activity.
