Women's Roles and Family Production among the Old Order Amish.

The Old order Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, can be classified as one of the oldest alternative communities in the United States. In this paper, we wish to examine ways in which the productive role of Amish women helps maintain Old Order Amish society, and the way these roles vary with woman's position in the life cycle. The contribution of women to production varies greatly between societies (Sanday, 1976). Furthermore, this contribution is not always recognized. Recently writers have argued that housewives not only perform private services for their husbands, but that their work helps maintain industrial capitalism (Malos, 1978). We believe our findings are informative not only with references to Amish society but that they are helpful in providing clues about women's roles in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]