• Amarnath Ramakrishna. K
• Dr. V. Marappan

The figure of the Pattakkaran, or master weaver, has long symbolized the skill, artistry, and economic success of the Sourashtra silk-weaving community. Yet this image obscures the indispensable, though systematically uncredited, labor of women whose contributions sustained both the industry and its social reproduction. This paper interrogates the androcentric bias in historical and anthropological narratives that valorize men’s public, monetized work while rendering invisible the productive and reproductive labor of women within the household. It argues that Sourashtra women were not passive subjects but active, though constrained, agents whose labor formed the bedrock of the community’s economic survival. Practices such as endogamy and dowry are examined not merely as cultural traditions but as deliberate economic strategies designed to consolidate knowledge, capital, and kinship ties. Situating this analysis within feminist critiques of the household economy and the anthropology of craft, the study highlights the process of “housewifization,” whereby women’s work is devalued as non-work, enabling its exploitation under capitalist relations. Drawing on colonial ethnographies, community histories, and oral testimonies, the paper re-weaves the narrative of Sourashtra heritage to foreground the hidden hands that prepared the thread long before it reached the master’s loom.

Sourashtra, Pattakkaran, SILK WEAVING

"GENDERED THREADS: WOMEN'S LABOR, KINSHIP, AND THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY IN SOURASHTRA SILK WEAVING HOUSEHOLDS", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.13, Issue 1, page no.c765-c768, January-2026, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2601292.pdf

"GENDERED THREADS: WOMEN'S LABOR, KINSHIP, AND THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY IN SOURASHTRA SILK WEAVING HOUSEHOLDS", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.13, Issue 1, page no. ppc765-c768, January-2026, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2601292.pdf