Page 247 - Constructing Craft

colourful settings’ and girls enjoyed crafts such as needlework ‘away from the
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boys’. When thrown into the workshop environment through integration policies
some girls employed coping tactics such as ‘“feigning inadequacy with machines”
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and courting assistance of boys and male teachers.’ The experience often
convinced girls that they were not suited to those crafts.

Children's craft kit showing the gendering of craft. The boy is the maker (the
creator), while the girl is the decorator (adding to the creation). Photo: Victoria and
Albert Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London. Photographed by the author.

Subtle gender differences were also evident as students moved higher in the school

system. Working with patterns, for instance, became hidden in the cover-all term

‘algorithms’. But the inequalities reappeared in the distinction in value and status
given to a computer specialist, for example, in comparison to a knitting expert –

both working with patterns.

The fashion and textile manufacturers were aware of the distinctions and worked
hard to establish habits and brand loyalties in young girls. When older these same

girls, as young women, saw craft portrayed as leisure in women’s magazines and

the publishers reinforced earlier loyalties through the promotion of craft projects.
Although the magazines did re-activate interest in craft they encouraged the

recipients to rely on patterns and pre-designed kits suggesting that women were

Constructing Craft