How did the commercial revolution change the type and value of the work women did?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary. Women's work was gradually devalued because the definition of work changed to mean those who could produce goods for the market economy. Women were formerly critical to the maintenance of self-sufficient rural households, and their work was recognized as requiring considerable skill. With the advent of the market revolution, however, women's work was sidelined as being housekeeping or unskilled labor, and they were thought too awkward or ignorant to do complicated jobs. In fact, they remained an integral part of the economic partnership in the household economy and perpetuated skilled labor such as cheesemaking, weaving, spinning, and sewing. The emphasis on the market economy, however, shifted to agricultural crops, and men's work was seen as more skilled and of greater importance (and earned higher wages) than women's work.