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Women and Beads

Some may think it strange to have a section on beads and women. For many people (I suspect mostly men) beads have always been very minor objects. They were not worthy of consideration because they were only "women's trifles." So, if you are going to have a site about trifles, why diminish it further by discussing "women's trifles"?

This, of course, scores a double nonsense. Women need no defense from me. As for trifles, little things are often far more important than their size suggest.

I suppose that when many people think of "Women and Beads" they think of women wearing beads. They certainly do that, sometimes almost to the exclusion of anything else, as with the Bondo of India.

However, women participate in all aspects of beads. They are Beadmakers, Workers in Bead Industries, Bead Traders and Bead Researchers as well as consumers.

Beads are central to the lives of women in many places. They play often complex roles in Love and Marriage. One woman became politically very popular for giving out beads.

There are two other pages here that are not so directly related to beads:
Bangles and Marriages (historically bangles are technically related to beads) and
"But, if only she weren't so dark!", a story I just think worth telling.

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