Page 245 - Constructing Craft

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liberation conference in 1972 and the founding of Broadsheet in the same year.
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Between the ‘first’ and ‘second’ waves of feminism, women’s primary role was as
wives and mothers but, by 1976, over 32% of married women over the age of

sixteen were employed outside the home and earning a living as an independent
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craftswomen became a viable option. While many of the women who took up craft
in the 1970s were not interested in feminist ideologies per se, the feminist
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movement, with a mantra of ‘Girls Can Do Anything’ , gave licence to some to
become involved in crafts that had formerly been dominated by men and to consider

craft as a career rather than simply a hobby.

Professionalism in craft, as we saw earlier, was often framed in economic terms.

Women, who formed a majority in craft overall, were nevertheless, a minority
amongst ‘professionals’ because fewer women earned their living from craft or their

earnings were considered too small to count as ‘real’ income. A 1983 study of the
craft ‘industry’ indicated that while women were more strongly represented among

income-earning craftspeople than among the labour-force in general, they
nevertheless still formed a minority. It also noted that potters aside (50% of the

respondents) the balance between men and women was very uneven in terms of

who was involved in what crafts. Women formed a large majority in the fabric and
fibre crafts, but a small minority in most others. Pottery was evenly divided between
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men and women. Three questions were raised by the report. Why was there an
imbalance? If the imbalance was gender-related was it being perpetuated and

finally, did it matter?

That which goes without saying comes without saying

The recognition of some craft as an art form could also be influenced by the gender

of the maker. Explaining why some crafts were considered more art-like than others

has forced writers to offer a variety of definitions of craft based on gender. For
example, Rozsika Parker, in her influential book, The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery

and the Making of the Feminine, argued that the differences between craft and art
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were centred on ‘where they [were] made and who [made] them.’ It has also been
suggested that the division of craft from art and ‘women’s’ craft from craft in general

Constructing Craft