20
Feb 12
“The Plough and the Now”
http://www.economist.com/node/18986073
This article states that patriarchal societies in which women are more likely to work in the home may be the result of their ancient ancestors adopting the use of the plough in early farming techniques. In compares those societies to others that did not adopt the plough, but stuck with a hoe. Thought I would share.
In another class I read an essay about ecofeminism. One of the articles brought up the idea that men are treated as progressive farmers because they focus on cash crops, while women are seen as non progressive because they worry about the farming that actually sustains the family. In this essay the author claims that it is in fact women who are progressive because they have actually invented many of the modern farming tools, like irrigation, ploughs, they first started wearing satchels on their backs to better transport picked wheat, they invented the sickle etc. If you would like to borrow the book and read the article let me know! Its really interesting!