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The Stoic philosopher Hierocles divides household labor by gender, assigning wool spinning, baking, and cooking to wives. Rabbinic tradition in the Mishnah follows this household code tradition, listing these as the labor a wife performs for her husband.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Hierocles On Household Management
Oikonomikos
Classical
Prior to all things, it is requisite to speak of the works through which the union of a family is preserved. 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, every thing of a domestic nature. Nevertheless, it is not appropriate that the one should be entirely exempt from the works of the other. For sometimes it will be proper when the wife is in the country that she should superintend the laborers, and perform the role of the master of the house; and that the husband should sometimes turn his attention to domestic affairs; and partly inquire about, and partly inspect what is doing in the house. For thus, what pertains to the mutual association of both will be more firmly connected by their joint participation of necessary cares. Since, however, our discussion has extended thus far, it appears to me that I ought not to omit to mention manual operations; for it will not be incongruous to add this also to what has been said about works.
Date: c. 120 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Mishnah Ketubot 5:5
Mishnah
Rabbinic
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: 190-230 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
... 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.’ The husband’s ‘rural’ work included providing the raw materials for the wife’s labor from farming, and the public function of any economic transactions were considered to be a man’s role and part of the public domain. 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 ...
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