Women at Work in the Deuteronomistic History - International Voices ...

CHAPTER 2
ON THE SHOULDERS OF OUR PREDECESSORS
“If we stand tall, it is because we stand on the shoulders of those who were there
before us,” says an African traditional proverb. 1 These words are intended to
acknowledge the enormous debt I have with many more people than we may
here recognize.
Since this study stands at the intersection of several fields, each with a
broad scholarship in its own right, a review of work bearing upon this research
would take a whole book or otherwise be necessarily eclectic and limited. I will
refer only to major contributions to this study’s understanding of lower-class
women, addressing other studies as we go. 2 The review is itemized into: feminist
and gender studies (including studies on ANE women); biblical studies; socialscientific
studies; studies on labor; and studies on slave, semi-free and unfree
workers.
1
Heard from Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro, then Secretary for the Women in Church and Society Desk of
the Lutheran World Federation, at her opening speech to the International Consultation on Women,
Geneva, October 1995.
2
A difficulty encountered repeatedly in this dissertation is that of appropriate terminology for the
people studied. For the sake of simplicity, “lower class women” will be used at times to refer to
social class, although many factors within any class should be considered. “Working women” and
“female workers” are used as synonyms, to refer to women who exchanged a service for pay,
regardless of occupation and legal status. In the same vain, “work” refers to productive work
exchanged for a payment, either by wages, goods (oil, flax, etc.) or supplying of basic needs
(lodging and food). Finally, “dependent” is used in general to refer to people serving in a
dependency position in a household other than their own, for example the תו/םי/ה/רענ
and captive
women whose exact status is unknown. Although an encompassing term—if there was one—would
have aided in clarity, on the other hand it would had obscured the variety of aspects found in the
texts for women who worked for others.
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