The Fruit of Her Hands

The Fruit of Her Hands, Volume 1, provides a detailed examination of Jewish and Christian women's work in medieval Catalan cities. Sarah Ifft Decker analyzes the urban economies of Barcelona, Girona, and Vic between 1250 and 1350 to understand how gender, socioeconomic status, and religious identity influenced daily life. This history utilizes thousands of notarial contracts, legal codes, and Hebrew responsa literature to reconstruct the lived experiences of women during this period.

The study expands the definition of employment to include household resource management alongside wage labor and artisanal production. Decker highlights the vital contributions of Christian women to Mediterranean urban life and explores how Jewish women assumed prominent economic roles during times of communal crisis. This work of economic history and gender studies offers significant insights into Jewish acculturation and the shared experiences of women across different faiths in the Iberian Peninsula.