Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c7.s1.31

c7.s1.31

The intellectual culture of women varied according to class. In villages where a woman was part of rural economy, there was no room for cultural growth in the ordinary sense. We have pointed out earlier how in Bengal, women were debarred from taking part in certain processes of weaving, although such restrictions did not apply to domestic work. On the other hand, the poorer class of peasant women had unfortunately to be too much occupied with domestic and farm work and with children to find leisure for intellectual occupations or even recreation. Their mental culture thus did not proceed beyond a very backward stage, with which students of folk-lore are quite familiar.