WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Guilds are defined as associations of craftsmen and merchants formed to promote the economic interests of their members as well as to provide protection and mutual aid. As both business and social organizations, guilds were prolific throughout Europe between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries.

Detailed explanation-2: -Women’s jobs in the Middle Ages Women washed clothes, baked bread, milked cows, fed animals, brewed beer, and collected firewood! In the Middle Ages, some women were spinners, brewers, jewelers, parchment makers, and glovers. In Medieval towns, women often helped their husbands with their work.

Detailed explanation-3: -Overall, because women were held to the same standards as men, many of the same features of guilds promoting social and economic advancement were available to women. However, while certain guilds connected women, most others excluded them.

Detailed explanation-4: -Women were still paid less than men and so it was more profitable overall for a shop to hire a female rather than a male. As this practice became more common, men were threatened by loss of work and retaliated; guilds increasingly were restricted to men.