Asalariadas y emprendedoras: mujeres trabajadoras del sector textil en la antigua Mesopotamia

Abstract

This paper deals with the role of women in textile manufacture in Mesopotamia in the Ur III and the Paleoassyrian periods. Evidence from cuneiform tablet shows that there were a hierarchy of tasks as well a variety of specializations related to textile production. Traditional approaches emphasize the role of gender in understanding social and economic status of textile workers. By contrast the author suggests that it was social status and nor gender that provided access to the most important positions in the organization of textile manufacture.