The Lawsuit

2023 · 50x53 cm, linocut A/p

Passions run high in this artwork. Apparently, a problematic client complained to the beer guild, and a noble gentleman came to the alewives with some kind of document. He is fashionably dressed, has elegant boots and two hats. He grins smugly and shows the brewers a document that could deprive them of their homes, businesses, and even their freedom. The young brewer is not afraid of him and looks at him defiantly, and the owner of the pub fiercely looks at the uninvited guest and defends her home and her heiress. What happened? Where did such problems come from? After the Plague, the economy boomed and brewing, which had been a common part of women's housework, became a hugely profitable business. The men also wanted to make money from ale, and it was very easy for them, because they had all human rights. Women had no rights, so men began to force them out of business. Despite the fact that brewing has been a woman's business throughout human history across the planet, society has begun to think that women are worse at brewing ale than men, although official documents from the beer guilds say that the violations were equal for men and women. Stupid prohibitions were invented, offensive rumors about alewives were spread, and by the eighteenth century there were almost no female brewers left.