Putting women back into the early modern economy

Work, occupations, and economic development

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3315365
AutoresJane Whittle (0000-0002-4320-9301, University of Exeter, autor de correspondencia)
Año2024
Volumen77
Número4
Páginas1125-1153
Fecha de publicación2024-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Economic History Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0013-0117 • E-ISSN: 1468-0289
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ehr.13323
OpenAlexW4391375496
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas55

A dataset of just under 10,000 work tasks gleaned from court depositions that records women's as well as men's work, and unpaid as well as paid activities, prompts a reassessment of the transformation of the early modern economy and women's role within it. Rather than sectoral change in production activities with a growth of manufacturing at the expense of agriculture, the evidence suggests that work tasks changed little over time despite occupational specialization increasing. Women's labour force participation is shown to contribute 44 per cent of work in the economy, rather than 30 per cent as in previous estimates. This is partly because of the importance of commercialized housework and care work, which has been largely overlooked in existing models of the early modern economy. Turning to waged work, findings confirm that men's and women's participation in paid agricultural work were linked, with women being employed in greater numbers when men were not available. However, these trends had a strong relationship with access to land, a factor that has been neglected in comparison with demographic trends and the cost of consumables. The organization of work was transformed in the seventeenth century as the number of completely landless households increased rapidly

Economic growth · Economics · Women's work · Work (physics) · Engineering · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Scottish History and National Identity