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The Stoic philosopher Hierocles says a wife should work alongside her maidservants rather than leave wool spinning to them. Rabbinic tradition in tractate Ketubot similarly says a husband can compel his wife to spin wool even with maidservants.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Hierocles On Household Management
Oikonomikos
Classical
What, therefore, should hinder the man from sharing in the works which pertain to a woman, whose past life has been such as to free him from all suspicion of absurd and effeminate conduct? For in other domestic works, is it not thought that more of them pertain to men than to women? For they are more laborious, and require corporeal strength, such as to grind, to knead meal, to cut wood, to draw water from a well, to transfer large containers from one place to another; to shake bedding and carpets, and every other work similar to these. And it will be sufficient, indeed, for these things to be performed by men. But it is also fit that some addition should be made to the legitimate work of a woman, so that she may not only engage with her maid servants in the spinning of wool, but may also apply herself to other more virile works. For it appears to me that the making of bread, the drawing of water [from a well], the lighting of fires, the making of beds, and every other work similar to these are the proper employments of a freeborn woman.
Date: c. 120 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Ketubot 59b
Babylonian Talmud
Rabbinic
MISHNA: And these are tasks that a wife must perform for her husband: She grinds wheat into flour, and bakes, and washes clothes, cooks, and nurses her child, makes her husband’s bed, and makes thread from wool by spinning it. If she brought him one maidservant, i.e., brought the maidservant with her into the marriage, the maidservant will perform some of these tasks. Consequently, the wife does not need to grind, and does not need to bake, and does not need to wash clothes. If she brought him two maidservants, she does not need to cook and does not need to nurse her child if she does not want to, but instead may give the child to a wet nurse. If she brought him three maidservants, she does not need to make his bed and does not need to make thread from wool. If she brought him four maidservants, she may sit in a chair [katedra] like a queen and not do anything, as her maidservants do all of her work for her. Rabbi Eliezer says: Even if she brought him a hundred maidservants, he can compel her to make thread from wool, since idleness leads to licentiousness. Consequently, it is better for a woman to be doing some kind of work. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: Even one who vows that his wife is prohibited from doing any work must divorce her and give her the payment for her marriage contract, since idleness leads to idiocy.
Date: 450-550 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... The rabbinic discussion reflects the two different systems (the public and private domestic sphere) that men and women were expected to belong to in the Greco-Roman world, and perpetuated traditional roles that were common in the Hellenistic world, and were related to the traditional values that were brought forward from the Greek classical period. The Stoic Hierocles summarized the traditional Greek gender roles aptly: ‘These therefore are to be divided after the accustomed manner; rural, forensic, and political works are to be attributed to the husband; but to the wife, such works as pertain to spinning wool, making of bread, cooking, and in short everything of a domestic nature.’ [...] Therefore, in the Greco-Roman world, men and women were considered to belong to two different systems, which is reflected in the rabbinic discussion. Women’s work in the domestic sphere had a lower value and status. It was comparable to slave’s work and it was delegated to slaves when possible, with the possible exception of spinning. This is in contrast with men’s work that took place in the public sphere ...”
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