In 1675, Louis XIV established the Parisian seamstresses’ guild, the f

In 1675, Louis XIV established the Parisian seamstresses’ guild, the first
independent all-female guild created in over 200 years. Guild members could make and sell women’s and children’s clothing, but were prohibited from producing men’s clothing or dresses for court women. Tailors
resented the ascension of seamstresses to guild status; seamstresses, meanwhile, were impatient with the remaining restrictions on their right to clothe women.
The conflict between the guilds was not purely economic, however. A 1675 police report indicated that since so many seamstresses were already working illegally, the tailors were unlikely to suffer additional economic damage because of the seamstresses’ incorporation.
Moreover, guild membership held very different meanings for tailors and seamstresses. To the tailors, their status as guild members overlapped
with their role as heads of household, and entitled them to employ as seamstresses female family members who did not marry outside the trade. The seamstresses, however, viewed guild membership as
a mark of independence from the patriarchal family. Their guild was composed not of family units but of individual women who enjoyed unusual
legal and economic privileges. At the conflict’s center was the issue of whether tailors’ female relatives should be identified as family members
protected by the tailors’ guild or as individuals under the jurisdiction of the seamstresses’ guild.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1:
The primary purpose of the passage is to

A. outline a scholarly debate over the impact of the Parisian seamstresses’ guild
B. summarize sources of conflict between the newly created Parisian seamstresses’ guild and the tailors’ guild
C. describe opposing views concerning the origins of the Parisian seamstresses’ guild
D. explore the underlying reasons for establishing an exclusively female guild in seventeenth-century Paris
E. correct a misconception about changes in seamstresses’ economic status that took place in Paris in the late seventeenth century

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q2:
According to the passage, one source of dissatisfaction for Parisian seamstresses after the establishment of the seamstresses’ guild was that

A. seamstresses were not allowed to make and sell clothing for all women
B. tailors continued to have the exclusive legal right to clothe men
C. seamstresses who were relatives of tailors were prevented from becoming members of the seamstresses’ guild
D. rivalry between individual seamstresses increased, thus hindering their ability to compete with the tailors for business
E. seamstresses were not allowed to accept male tailors as members of the guild

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q3:
It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following was true of seamstresses employed by relatives who were members of the tailors’ guild?

A. They were instrumental in convincing Louis XIV to establish the seamstresses’ guild.
B. They were rarely allowed to assist master tailors in the production of men’s clothing.
C. They were considered by some tailors to be a threat to the tailors’ monopoly.
D. They did not enjoy the same economic and legal privileges that members of the seamstresses’ guild enjoyed.
E. They felt their status as working women gave them a certain degree of independence from the patriarchal family.

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

A. outline a scholarly debate over the impact of the Parisian seamstresses’ guild

B. summarize sources of conflict between the newly created Parisian seamstresses’ guild and the tailors’ guild