The hard work of Zermatt Women

The exhibition in the "Schiirle" in Mutt is part of the Zermatt Culture Trail and is dedicated to the work performed by women, reaching deep into the first half of the twentieth century.

In a strongly patriarchal society and in an environment dominated by agriculture, women made an immense contribution behind the scenes and often under inhumane conditions. Society would not have been sustainable without their work.

Men were responsible for providing for the family and completed all the manual tasks, but they had it a little easier in the winter months. There was no such respite for women. They brought up the children, ran the household, looked after the cows, spent long winter evenings spinning yarn and knitting and helped in the fields.

One woman's posthumous testimony relates how her mother had to put the girls' braids in the night before school because they had to set off the next morning before their mother was back from milking the cows. She plaited their hair so tight that it pained them in their sleep.

Source: Kulturwege Zermatt