In 1675, Louis XIV established the Parisian seamstresses guild

Question

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.   1 
 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
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

2 
 2. 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

3 
 3. 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.

4 
 4. The author mentions the seamstresses’ view of guild membership as a “ mark of independence from the patriarchal family ” (lines 40-41) primarily in order to

A. emphasize that the establishment of the seamstresses’ guild had implications that were not solely economic
B. illustrate the conflict that existed between tailors and their female family members over membership in the tailors’ guild
C. imply that the establishment of the seamstresses’ guild ushered in a period of increased economic and social freedom for women in France
D. provide an explanation for the dramatic increase in the number of women working as seamstresses after 1675
E. indicate that members of the seamstresses’ guild were financially more successful than were tailors’ female relatives protected by the tailors’ guild

GMATNinja · Accepted Answer

Passage breakdown 
In the first paragraph (P1), the author  describes some economic sources of tension between two groups :

Louis XIV created the first independent all-female guild created in over 200 years: the Parisian seamstresses’ guild. 
 Tension arose between tailors and seamstresses.

In the second paragraph, the author  describes additional sources of tension between the two groups :

The conflict was not purely economic, but also stemmed from social factors such as family relationships.

For more on this process, check out  this article  and  our live RC videos .

Explanations for individual questions 
 
  Question 1  
  Question 3  
  Question 4

oasis90 · Answer

Can you please explain question 3? How can D be inferred? I know that family member seamstresses were not heads of households but its a bit of a stretch to conclude that they did not enjoy certain economic and legal status

GMATNinja · Answer

Question 3

Let’s take a closer look at question #3:

In order to be confident in our answer, we must confirm that it's the best of all five choices, so let's take a look at each one:

At no point in the passage does the author reveal who convinced Louis XIV to establish this guild. Eliminate choice (A).

"They" in this statement are "seamstresses employed by relatives who were members of the tailors' guild." We know that seamstress guild members could not produce any men's clothing, but there's no evidence of any such restriction on  non-guild seamstresses , who were employable by male family members in the tailors' guild. Eliminate choice (B).

Again, a less precise reader might mistake "They" for "seamstress guild members" in this statement. However, we know that familial non-guild seamstresses were part of the labor force employed by  tailors . We also are told explicitly that "Tailors resented the ascension of seamstresses  to guild status ." We know that tailors felt threatened by seamstress guild members, but don't see anything to suggest they were threatened by their own employees. Eliminate choice (C).

"They" still means "seamstresses employed by relatives who were members of the tailors' guild." We must confirm that seamstresses  employed by relatives who were members of the tailors guild  did   not   enjoy the same economic and legal privileges as seamstresses  who were members of the seamstress guild . Here's where the passage spells out this contrast:

"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 ."

This tells us that seamstress guild members enjoyed unusual legal and economic privileges (those that came with being protected as individuals, independent of their patriarchal family units). Guild seamstresses and non-guild seamstresses alike viewed guild membership as a mark of independence, but only guild seamstresses enjoyed this privilege. That's a solid inference, so (D) looks good.

Since we know that "They" does not refer to seamstress guild members, we know that this can't be inferred from the passage. Eliminate choice (E), and we’re left with (D) as by far our best answer choice.

mallya12 · Answer

Q4) why option C is wrong? "..women who enjoyed unusual legal and economic privileges." So with seamstresses’ guild, woman enjoyed legal and economic privileges.

Q1) Explain the meaning of answer choice A and B. what does it mean by sources of conflicts??

GMATNinja · Answer

Question #1 asks us to identify the primary purpose of the passage. Let's take a look at answer choices (A) and (B):
 
A "scholarly debate" requires at least two competing ideas from some kind of academic or research-based viewpoint. This passage does not contain that kind of debate -- instead, the author presents only his or her own research findings about the seamstresses' guild. (A) is out.

In the first sentence of the passage, the author states that Louis XIV established the seamstresses' guild. After that, the author focuses closely on the conflicts between the seamstresses' guild and the tailors' guild. The "sources of conflict" between the two groups include the tailors' resentment that women were given guild status, the seamstresses' impatience with restrictions on their work, and "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."

Another way of thinking about "primary purpose" questions is to ask, "why did the author write this passage?" In this case, the author wanted to explain the conflicts that arose between seamstresses and tailors when the seamstresses' guild was established. Answer choice (B) captures this purpose, and is the correct answer to question #1.

Let's take a look at question #4:
 
And here is answer choice (C):
 
By saying that  "women in France"  enjoyed increased freedoms, this answer choice makes a much broader claim than can be supported by the passage. It may be true that women  in the seamstresses' guild  experienced increased economic and social freedoms, but we cannot expand that to argue that French women in general enjoyed these freedoms. You can eliminate (C) for question #4.

I hope this helps!

mSKR · Answer

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.

Why not A? the debat started after the establishment of Parisian seamstresses’ guild

the summary is only in the end. But in the passage they have discussed reasons for it.

GMATNinja

GMATNinja · Answer

Question 1 
 
This passage tells us about the origin of the Parisian seamstresses' guild before launching into a discussion about the seamstresses' guild's conflict tailors' guild.

Let's take a closer look at (A) to see why it doesn't give the primary purpose of the passage:
 
For this passage to  outline a scholarly debate , we'd expect to see some mention of a researcher or the results from an investigation from multiple scholars. The results from these scholars' work would be compared to give us some idea of the nature of the debate.

This passage does not have any of these things -- there is no mention of scholarly debate.

We're given information about the conflict  between the two guilds , but no information about a possible scholarly debate over the impact of the seamstresses' guild. For this reason, (A) cannot be the answer to this question.

Compare this to (B):
 
The start of the second paragraph tells us:

"The conflict between the guilds was not purely economic"

Later in the paragraph, we're told:

"guild membership held very different meanings for tailors and seamstresses"

The end of the paragraph gives the summary you quote:

"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."

This tells us the  reasons  for the conflict between the two guilds. We're given this summary of the underlying reasons, or the sources, for the disagreement in the second paragraph. This is why (B) is the answer to this question.

I hope that helps!

Yuki2202 · Answer

Hi

I read your explanation, but I still don't understand your view so clearly.

For this part in the passage " 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".

I thought that seamstresses considered guild membership as a mark of independence and the seamstresses enjoyed unusual legal and economic privileges.

=> There is no part said that they  "did not enjoy the same economic and legal privileges that members of the seamstresses’ guild"

Why we can not choose E, because in the passage, these seamstresses viewed guild membership as a mark of independence and the choice E said "They felt their status as working women gave them a certain degree of independence"

I'm really confused with this question.

Really hope that you can explain a bit more clearly.

Thank you so much.

GMATNinja · Answer

Think about the situation before 1675: there were tailors who could join the tailors’ guild and who could employ female family members as seamstresses. These seamstresses were not members of a guild (the seamstresses' guild didn't exist yet) and were stuck in a patriarchal system where the tailor, "the  head  of the household", was in charge.

So perhaps those seamstresses felt like they  deserved  independence, but simply working as a seamstress under a tailor didn't GIVE them any independence--they were stuck in the patriarchal family system. In other words, being a working woman didn't give the seamstresses any independence, so (E) has to be eliminated.

Here's another chunk of the passage:

This part implies that, starting in 1675, those seamstresses could become members of the seamstresses' guild and could thus attain some degree of independence from the patriarchal family. But if those seamstresses continued working for a male head of household and did not join the seamstresses' guild, then they would not have attained the unusual legal and economic privileges enjoyed by members -- instead, they'd remain stuck under the tailor's thumb.

(D) is tricky, but it's the best choice we've got.

I hope that helps!

sayan640 · Answer

GMATNinja  Can you  please explain why C is not the answer ?

GMATNinja · Answer

Question 1 
 
This passage tells us about the origin of the Parisian seamstresses' guild before launching into a discussion about the conflict between the seamstresses' guild's and the tailors' guild.

Here's (C):

In the passage, we learn that the Parisian seamstresses’ guild was established in 1675. Then we learn a whole bunch of  effects  that followed the creation of this guild. So we really don't get any "opposing views concerning the  origins " of the guild -- as far as we know, everyone agrees on the origin story. The conflicts described in the passage are between the different guilds, not between people debating the origins of the seamstresses' guild.

Eliminate (C) for question 1.

I hope that helps!

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

In 1675, Louis XIV established the Parisian seamstresses guild

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

In 1675, Louis XIV established the Parisian seamstresses guild

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards