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Freshly-fished clams. Idoia Tolosa. Labayru Fundazioa Photographic Archive.

Historically, save for exceptional cases, women have been relegated to the private domain of the household. Their duties included the activation of the symbolic family grave in church, which was in effect conceived as an extension of the house itself.

Nonetheless, there have been a wide range of trades and occupations away from the homestead mostly performed by women, though often considered secondary. To name but a few: midwives, seamstresses, schoolteachers, marketeers, milkmaids…; and among others, particularly in coastal localities, net makers, errand girls at port, fish sellers and clam diggers. (more…)