"1EYERS:WHERETHEG1Rt$ARE 33allpremodernsocieties).Women'shouseholdactivitics,whichweshall
discussbelow,hadmajoreconomicvalueinancientIsrael-asinvirtually
allpremodern,small-scale,horticulturalandagrariansocieties,inwhichall
productivelaborisbasedinthehouseholdandinwhichthecontributions
ofwomenandmen,thoughdifferentiated,areseenasequivalen1.^2 Thus
women'scontributiontothe"domesticmodeofproduction"contributedto
femalepowerinwaysthatchallengeourpersistentandoftenunexamined
notionsofpatriarchaldominanceandfemaledependence)
Anotheraspectoftheproblemofpresent-mindednessisourtendency
toconceptualizeourcontemporaryworldasdividedintopublicandpri-
vatedomains.Thisanalyticalconstruction,whichoriginatedinchangesto
theconceptoftheworkplacebroughtaboutby[heindustrialrevolution,
considersthepublic(economicandpoliticalinstitutions)andtheprivate
(familyordomesticlife)asseparatedomains.Thisconstructwaspopular
inthe lastfewdecadesofthetwcntiethcenturyforassessingwomen's
rolesintraditionalsocieties.^4 Ilowcver,it isnolongerconsidereda useful
orevenaccurateanalyticalframework,especiallyforassessingsocieties
thatpre-datetheindustrialrevolution.^5 Amoreintegratedapproachnow
recognizesthat,at leastinancientagrarian societiesifnot alsointhe
modernworld.the"public"and"private"arereallyoverlappingdomains.
Therefore,wemustremindourstudents,andourselves. thatwhathap-
pens in the Israelite household has significance not only for the
householdbutalsoforthe largercommunityinwhichitisembedded.
Whatwomendidandsaidinhouseholdcontextshadimplicationsheyond
theirimmediatefamilies.
Havingset forth theconceptual harriersthat we mustcontinually
struggletoovercomeinexaminingthelivesofwomenintheperiodof
2 OlkuU.Uatc~et;11.(llunterColleReWomen's:-'lUdie,~CollC<-1ivc). Womell'sRealill('~.
WOlI/ellSCholct'S:All/lIIrodIlC!i(JI/ 10 IfomellsStudies(2dcd,:Oxford:OxfordUni\'er~ity
Press.1995).45B-62.
311 wouldheusefulforhOlhin~lruclorsand~tudcntstore;ldmycritiqueoftheconcept
of"palri;lrchy'as:lppJic-Jble 10 premodernsocieliesinch;lpter 2 ofCarolMeyer.s,DiscOI'I!/iIlM
EI'e:AnCienlIsmelileWOII/ellillOmle.\'/(i\kwYork:OxfordUniversityPress. lI)8Hl.24-46.
4 St.-cMkhdkZ.Rusaldo,'·Women.Culture.andSot.'iety:A Theort:licalOvcrvkw."in
~'tJlI/el/,Clti/ltre,alldSociely(cd.M.Z.Ho~aldoandl..Lamphere;Sfanford.Calif.:Stanford
UniversityPress.1974),23--35::mdPeIDtySanday.-FemaleSt:llUSinthePublicI)om;lin:in
llosaldoandLamphere,If'Omell.CII!III/l.'.andSociely.189-206.
SSoJ;mel Sharistanian. /3£:i~JIIdIbePublic/Pn'I'tlleDlcbotomy(Wc~tport.Conn.:
GrL-cnw(XxI, 1987);DorothyO. Ikl1y;wdSusan M, Heverby.cds..Domaills:Retbinkillg
Public(//ulPm't#eillInm/eIl·SI-I;s/O,)'(tlhaCI.N.Y.:CornellUniversityl'rcs~.t992);Louise
Lamphere,"ThcDomesticSphereofWomenandthePublicSphereof,\len:TheStrengths
andLimitationsofanAnthropoloRiGtlDichotoIl1Y.-inGenderillCross-Cllilum!Pers/X'Clire
{cd,C.13.BrcncllandC.F,S;Hgcnl;EnRlew(xx!Cliffs.N.J.:Prenticcl1al1.1993).67-77.