Silk as a feminine textile

Silk as a Feminine Textile

Silk as a Feminine Textile

Silk overpowers all other fabrics, even the most luxurious when it comes to the textile that is renowned for its association with wealth, social rank, powerful positions, but most of all femininity. In this case, referring to the silk garments that have been worn by women throughout history, too wear such a fabric is to display a women status in society, whether wealthy or lower class, wearing silk, the most precious of fabrics will always enhance women’s well-being, strength and beauty. During the end of the eighteenth century, French silks were the best, most elegant, most sumptuous and most fashionable throughout all of Europe. Demand for silk was continuous throughout the era, the nation wanted everything from curtains, sheets and fabric for upholstering, to silk for delicate under garments, full petticoats, skirts and veils. Because of this high demand, women were quickly employed in the silk industry, as the good demanded a great deal of delicate stages to acquire the final produce. There have been many expressive discussions and opposing arguments, for many centuries, between numerous historians, on the very topic of the female role and status within society and the workplace during the eighteenth century. Many agree that it was a long awaited turning point for the working lives of women and that their role within the French industry is why it still stands today, whereas others debate that when these women accepted to go out and work, that they degraded themselves and their status within their family. Throughout the many thousands of years of silk manufacture, especially in China, the delicate production of silk into lavish garments has always been considered an art that should be produced and created in the palms of a woman. When the first silkworm eggs were brought to Europe and began to spread between countries, it is said that when the men spent their days farming and producing food in the fertile soil of France, the job of the women of the household was to sit and create stunning garments made from silk for the whole family. In Italy when silk manufacture was still fairly new, you would find that nuns would often commit part of their day to producing garments and items from silk. According to old chronicles, their day used to consist of; “Nine hours praying and three hours weaving”.

During the eighteenth century in France, it looked as though for some time, men were the dominant workers in the silk industry. The French were maybe the first to employ women on a large scale and not only to make use of their dainty hands but also the excellence of their brains. Soon many women were educated enough to the point that they could have easily overrun the men working in the textile industry, the women themselves had the skill and enthusiasm to outdo the men and often would work harder, turning around more profit than their male associates. Women of the trade were often the designers of the patterns that were woven in France, often travelling to Paris or London to discuss drawings and designs with other traders. Silk weaving really was, and still is considered a beautiful and skilled area of art. When a woman was domesticated, a good cook and was skilled in the industry of weaving, especially in the weaving of silk cloth, that woman was considered to almost inevitably make an exceptional wife for any man.

Although taking into account what had been written in the previous paragraphs, during the eighteenth century, the world was still in an era that positioned women to be below that of men, and was very much considered a man’s world. The French civilisation was full of discrimination and sexism against women and this would not significantly change for centuries later. During the start of the century, women had the job of staying at home, relying on their husbands or fathers to go out and work. Women were considered not worthy of being able to accomplish the tasks that were done by men and each sex was given specific rights to what they would have to oblige by. Women could not avoid their role as wife, sister, mother or daughter and could not escape from the discrimination of their wealth and sex. They were defined for being unfit for a job outside of the home and were typically considered as private beings, who should not need such a public life. The main views on women were that they obtained a lack of intelligence and their individual duty was to run the household for their family’s and husbands. Other than that they were labelled as unskilled, untrained and not particularly hard working, along with having a cunning character that made some men nervous and eager not to have them in the workplace. This of course was untrue, seeing as most women, with the exception of higher class women with a high-ranking status, had the exhausting and difficult job of housekeeping. From cleaning and cooking, raising children, making cloths to sell, as well as for their families, to becoming the family doctor and carer, there whole life revolved around hard work and dedication.

During the course and towards the end of the eighteenth century, the law that placed women into a category of a lower rank would soon begin to improve and refashion. This fascinating change was to come about during the French revolution, when the nation’s population took the chance to deposition the Kings domain and to take action in making France a fitter country that was run by its own government. The textile industry of France was in high demand and more skilled weavers were needed to keep up with the challenging market. Therefore a substantial amount of female workers were employed in the weaving business and began their training. Soon the opinion of many, that females were incapable of hard work, long hours and managing machinery soon began to fade giving women a real chance of changing the future. During this time, female workers were able to show their strength and genuine capability’s, proving to men that they were crucial to the future of the French economy.

The jobs specified to each woman would usually depend on her social situation. In the French city of Lyons, most women worked as weavers or seamstresses of cotton, linen and ribbon making, but because of Lyons dedication to the manufacture of silk, most importantly as silk spinners and weavers. Even though the discrimination against women had significantly improved, most female workers were still under paid, received the minimum wage and were usually forced to take on the grimmest and more dangerous of jobs in the weaving rooms which included being a draw girl, requiring mostly muscular strength and a lot of patience.

The women, who were related to silk masters in the industry, usually had better opportunities at working their way up in the industry and becoming skilled silk weavers, therefore gaining more social acceptance, yet they would never have been allowed to take over the men’s most dominant jobs. The women in the industry soon proved that they were a force of highly intelligent, very skilled and keen workers and they were beginning to show just how much the silk and textile industry in France relied on them. During the late seventeen hundreds, more and more women were being employed in the industry and the number soon took over that of the men’s.

Now it seemed that women were starting to dominate the silk industry of Lyon, they had finally got the chance of competing with the opposite sex in the production of textiles and could now take advantage of their new found freedom. Many thought that this was the start of an equal society.

On the other hand, women were still faced with many different problems regarding the limit of their new found independence. Women still couldn’t speak for themselves, regarding legal matters which was indeed down to their husbands or fathers who somewhat had owner ship over them. Many women proved themselves to be more capable and of having more potential than most of the men in the industry, yet they were still not able to own their own businesses and were still considered the inferior sex in the eyes of the law.

To conclude, we can see just how much the weaving industry during the eighteenth century relied on the occupation of females and how the “Golden age of silk”, along with the silk weaving business has come to be known as the enlightenment of feminism. In the exception the great inventers including Jacques De Vaucanson and Joseph Marie Jacquard, women in the eighteenth century were the major labourers during the ever changing era, making the city of Lyon capable of becoming the most important European industry for silk weaving and moving the country into the nineteenth century with wealth and pride. No longer did women have to seclude themselves, they now had the opportunity to make their mark in the world and to make a difference.