What Antiques Tell Us About the Role of Women in History
Uncovering the hidden stories of women through the objects they left behind.
The items that clutter an antiques shop are often a snapshot of the roles women played throughout history.
Whether it’s the tools women used in their daily lives or the decorative special objects that symbolized societal expectations, antiques can tell us a lot about women’s positions in the home, workplace and society.
From Victorian-era needlework samplers to a pioneer’s cast-iron cookware, these objects give us a peek into how women lived, what was expected of them and how they shaped their own worlds, despite the limitations they faced.
Domestic Life: The "Invisible" Labor of Women
Throughout history, much of women's work has been confined to the home, especially in the 19th century and earlier. Household items were not just tools but also symbols of their traditional roles as caretakers, homemakers and nurturers.
A Few Antique Examples:
My antique cast iron meat grinder
Sad Irons: These heavy cast iron tools were used by women (and young girls) to press clothing. This work was both physically demanding and dangerous, reflecting the grueling, often invisible, labor expected of women in maintaining the household. Curious? Check out my article on why sad irons are so sad.
Cast Iron Cookware: From the pioneer frontier to early 20th-century kitchens, heavy-ass cast iron skillets and pots were essential for women to feed their families, and perhaps put on some muscle. Cooking was a daily necessity, and the type of cookware used tells us about the level of manual labor required to perform their expected domestic duties. This labor was (...is?) often taken for granted by society.
Household objects can be reminders of the unpaid labor women performed. However, they also demonstrate women’s creativity, resilience and skill in managing a home.
Fashion: Women as Symbols of Status and Beauty
Antique fashion accessories like corsets, jewelry and vanity sets reveal how women’s identities were tied to appearance. Victorian women were expected to follow strict beauty standards, with personal grooming and clothing reinforcing societal status.
Items such as dressing tables or hand mirrors were not just practical, they were tools for reinforcing a woman’s role as the family’s public face of purity, modesty and wealth. Cool, huh?
A Few Antique Examples:
Corsets: Worn to shape women’s bodies into the desirable hourglass figure and definitely not medieval torture devices, corsets reflect the Victorian ideal of femininity. They also demonstrate the physical constraints placed on women and the societal emphasis on women’s appearance as an indicator of value.
Victorian Mourning Jewelry: This one is a struggle for me because my family has a history of saving hair, which I just…cannot. So. mourning jewelry. Made from jet, hair or other materials, this jewelry was worn during periods of mourning, particularly after the death of a family member. It was a public expression of grief that tied to women’s roles as the caretakers of family emotions and traditions.
As today, fashion obviously emphasized appearance, symbolizing the societal view of women as objects to be, well, looked at. However, it also represents women’s agency within those confines. Many women used fashion to express their personal identity, independence and even defiance against restrictive social norms.
Needlework and Craft: Women’s Creative Expression
Needlework, embroidery and quilting were common domestic activities for women in the 18th and 19th centuries. These crafts were acceptable creative outlets for women, letting them express their skills and creativity while contributing to their households.
Needlework could also serve as a subtle form of resistance, with women embedding personal or political messages within their stitches. This, I love.
A Few Antique Examples:
Sampler Embroidery: In the Victorian era, young girls were taught embroidery as a way to demonstrate their domestic skills and moral values. What fun! However, some women used needlework to tell personal stories or commemorate significant events in their lives. They give us a glimpse into the private worlds of women who used their craft to record their experiences and sometimes even express subversive ideas.
Quilts: Quilting was another domestic art form, often passed from mother to daughter. While quilts were practical, they were also deeply symbolic, with women often using quilting circles as spaces to bond, share stories and even discuss issues like suffrage or abolitionism. The first book clubs, if you will.
Needlework and quilting were often dismissed as trivial women’s work, but they provided a way for women to express themselves creatively and communally. The detailed, symbolic designs found in many antique pieces demonstrate that women were not merely passive participants in domestic life, they were also storytellers, historians and sometimes quiet revolutionaries.
Women’s Economic Roles: Tools of Trade and Innovation
While many historical women were confined to the home, some worked outside the domestic sphere by necessity or choice. Antiques related to women’s economic roles, such as tools used by midwives, teachers or milliners, give insight into how women contributed to the workforce.
A Few Antique Examples:
Midwifery Instruments: Midwives played a key role in women’s reproductive health, especially in rural areas. Antique midwifery tools such as birthing chairs or forceps tell the story of women as healers and caretakers who were often trusted with the lives of other women and their children in ways that male doctors were not.
Millinery Tools: Hat-making was one of the few professions women could pursue in the 19th century. Milliners were often independent business owners, and their tools, such as hat forms and sewing kits, reflect the opportunities women had to contribute to the economy through their skilled labor.
By looking back at these items, we can tell that women were more than just homemakers; they were also entrepreneurs, healers and workers that contributed to the economy. Through their trades, many women gained some independence and perhaps even a smidge of financial autonomy, challenging gender norms.
Reclaiming Women’s History Through Antiques
Antiques are more than just objects of curiosity or decoration. When looked at through a feminist lens, they tell us about the lives of women throughout history. Whether it’s a well-worn cooking pot or a piece of ornate Victorian jewelry, each holds a story that helps us better understand women’s roles in shaping our world.
