does the expectation of western women to be domestic and not participate in production have a religious/biblical basis?

by Moonstompa

What are the origins of society's expectation of female domesticity? Are there any specific biblical passages mentioning the woman's participation in the productive process?

[deleted]

Being domestic does not equal not participating in production, since much of production was domestic up to the industrial revolution. Think stuff like milking cows, sewing clothes and so on. And the part that was not used in the household could be sold or exchanged, usually it was not the main source of income, but if you was a dairy farmer for example, it could be.

Commuting as such was invented in the industrial revolution. Even a blacksmith would have his workshop next to his house, so in this sense he would be domestic too. Or think of an upper-class man 100-120 years ago, he would often have a home office and write business letters from there.

If you think about it, a non-productive home requires fairly modern technology and a modern economy. Like you buy milk, not milk the cow. Commuting to a job means concentrated factories.

But since you were interested in the Bible, Proverbs 31:1–31 should do the job:

She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.

She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night.

And I hope that satisfies the mods requirements for sources.

The question you should be asking is: at what point in history did technology and economics advance to the level where a housewife could allow herself the luxury of not doing domestic production, but simply buying stuff? And yes this is a luxury - the average medieval, early modern, or Biblical-time woman would have to do the housewife stuff AND domestic production, two jobs.