A historian compares two villages: one wove cotton cloth for distant markets, the other for local use. Women in the first spent more time spinning yarn. Which idea best explains this?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → The more commercialised a product, the greater the demand on women's labour
Option (1) Women were kept from field work, so they turned to crafts at home — Incorrect. Women worked shoulder to shoulder with men in the fields. They were not kept out of field work.
Option (2) A gendered segregation kept women at home while men worked outside — Incorrect. Household farming made a split between home and world impossible. Women even went to employers' houses and markets.
Option (3) A shortage of wives made families keep women busy with home crafts — Incorrect. A shortage of wives arose from high death rates among women. It led to distinct social customs in peasant and artisan communities.
Option (4) The more commercialised a product, the greater the demand on women's labour — Correct. Spinning yarn depended on female labour. The more commercialised the product, the greater the demand on women's labour, so cloth for distant markets drew more of their time.
NCERT (2026-27): “3. Women in Agrarian Society … |