Women's work

I've just finished reading, With Her Own Hands: Women Weaving Their Stories by Nicole Nehrig. I highly recommend it. It takes you on a journey around the world and through time looking at the relationship between textiles and the woman who make them. I found it fascinating. 

Some of the book addresses the idea that the textile crafts and hobbies of women are not seen as 'real', whether that is 'real' work, 'real' art, or of 'real' value. I realized as I read that my negative reaction to the words 'craft' and 'hobby' stems from this tacit second class dismissal that comes along with these terms. "... beyond taking public actions, these feminists endeavored to shift the mindset about what textile work means for women as an expression of our value and influence. Writer and maker Betsy Greer, ... , says, 'It's about making your own creativity a force to be reckoned with. The moment you start thinking about your creative production as more than just a hobby or 'women's work,' and instead as something that has cultural, historical, and social value, craft becomes something stronger than fad or trend.'" (p. 207)

There is story after story of the artistry of women having a profound effect both on the artists and the wider world. A significant amount of space devoted to telling the stories of the Gee's Bend quilters whose quilts now hang in major museums both here and abroad. Gee's Bend was developed by the descendants of enslaved people in Alabama who lived in desperate poverty. Quilting was a way to help their families survive. "Fabric was hard to come by and was almost never new. Women repurposed the cloth from worn-out clothes and bags that seeds, flour, and sugar came in. They carefully pulled out the thread that held these bags together and wrapped it around a stick to save for sewing. To make the best use of the fabric they had, they used strips and blocks -- round or curved pieces wasted fabric-- to make geometric designs that were often aesthetically striking. When the quilts were too worn out to be used as blankets, they were repurposed as sanitary pads, rugs, saddle blankets, and insulation around pipes to keep them from bursting in the winter." (p. 185)

At no point are the items created by women just something pretty to look at like bits of unnecessary frippery. There are stories of textiles created by suffragettes to document their cause as well as the trauma they suffered through being imprisoned. The people of Gee's Bend also were involved in voting rights. "The cable ferry that ran between Camden and Gee's Bend, a wooden raft poles by a Gee's Bend resident, had been stolen in 1962 to keep Black people from coming to Camden to register to vote, but it also kept people from going to stores and work in town. It made what was once a five-minute River crossing into more than an hour-long drive for a community where most people did not own a car. Wilcox County Sheriff Lummie Jenkins reportedly said at the time, 'We didn't close the ferry because they were Black, we closed it because they forgot they were Black.' Ferry service was not restored until 2006." (p. 186)

Voting rights for anyone who wasn't a white male were hard won with the cost in lives high. Your right to vote should never be taken lightly. To not exercise that right makes a mockery of the pain that those who fought for that right suffered. If anyone tells you it is pointless, what they are really saying is that they don't actually want you to vote. And if that sentiment is directed at anyone who is not a white male, you can also assume the tacit subtext that they don't think you are smart enough or valuable enough to be allowed to have a say in how your country is run. Every vote counts. Every vote matters. Exercise your right and don't let anyone stop you or convince you otherwise. Oh, and read this book as well.