Photo: National Geographic Magazine, October, 1987, pp.
450-451. Divided by sex and custom a family spend Thursday evening
relaxing by the Red Sea.
Everything in the Mediterranean world -- people, space, objects, animals, time -- is divided by gender. There are places where only women should be (the common oven in the village), or where only men should be (the Court of the Men in the Temple; the fields, etc.). There are other places where both may be, but not at the same time. Thus, Rachel came to the well to fetch water "at the time of evening, the time when women go out to draw water" (Gen 24:11). The Samaritan woman who meets Jesus at Jacob's well when she comes to draw water is there at the wrong time (John 4:6-7).
For additional information and bibliography, see the study guide for
the University of San Francisco film, Kypseli
See also The
Cultural Dictionary of the Bible, pp. 34, 66, 84