Is it a bird, is it a plane, is it Superman? The sight of a man — an Olympic athlete no less — knitting in plain view is perhaps rarer than that of an imaginary superhero streaking across the sky. Tom Daley, the British diver, has created quite a splash with needle and thread: when he was not in the water, Mr Daley could be seen in the stands, weaving skeins of yarn together to create a pouch for the gold he won in the diving competition, a sweater for his friend’s dog, as well as a splendid Olympic-themed cardigan for himself. The shock and awe that greeted Mr Daley’s accomplishment on land can be attributed to the fact that the postmodern cultural discourse continues to segregate leisure along the lines of gender. Mr Daley could well have been confused with a matronly lady working wonders with yarn and thread simply because she had ample time on her hands.
This prejudice is not old though. A cursory look at history would reveal that men have lorded over knitting for centuries; in the Middle Ages, women were not allowed to be part of all-men knitting guilds. This discrimination may have its roots in primitive codes of labour, codes that were disrupted and altered by emerging technology. For instance, with the invention of knitting machines in the 16th century, men stopped knitting, allowing women to gain access to the craft. Yet, technology was not an equitable enabler; it ended up creating newer divisions. As toxic masculinity started to cast condescending glances towards knitting, an art that Viking and Arab men once took pride in stopped being truly representative in terms of gender.
Yet, it must be asked, what explains modernity’s enthusiasm to feminize specific forms of recreation? Cooking, knitting, sewing, cleaning — each requires skill, patience, hard work and imagination — are women’s business. That fits well with the prevailing — outdated? — idea that the world is the man’s business, while the home is the woman’s fief. Role reversals, in reel or real life, lead to considerable mirth still. Be it Mrs. Doubtfire — it featured Robin Williams in the role of a nanny — or men forced to take on household chores during the lockdown, the inversion of the template of division of labour has led to an explosion of memes and satire.
Yet, more and more men may need to emulate Mr Daley. A study in 2018 showed that rising unemployment across the globe has been forcing men to take up jobs — caregiving is one example — traditionally associated with women. Funnily enough, while a woman shattering the proverbial glass ceiling is — quite correctly — lauded, men excelling in unconventional duties, be they at work or in play, continue to elicit the metaphorical prick from the needle.
