230 THE WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS
- Part of the explanation lies in the assignment of such tasks in Asia to women and
children, that is, to people who could not say no. One finds similar patterns else
where, for example, in Southeast Asia, where women harvested rice with a finger-
knife, one stalk at a time, rather than with a sickle. This was said to honor the rice spirit;
but then, it is not uncommon to sanctify women's toil with pious myths. Had men
done the cutting, the rice spirit would have been honored by a quick sickle and a sym
bolic handful of the harvest. On finger-knife harvesting, see Reid, Southeast Asia, I, 5.
employment, especially to women and children.^38 All the same,
European workers, very different, would have been happy to gain
higher pay through greater productivity; to say nothing of easier
labor.*
