The Gender Wage Gap in Early Modern Toledo, 1550-1650

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4866077
AutoresMauricio Drelichman (0000-0002-1457-3235, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research), David González Agudo, David Agudo (0000-0002-8917-5071, Universitat de Barcelona)
Año2020
Volumen80
Número2
Páginas351-385
Fecha de publicación2020-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Journal of Economic History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-0507 • E-ISSN: 1471-6372
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022050720000145
OpenAlexW2944906941
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas13
Referencias citadas32

We exploit the records of a large Toledan hospital to study the compensation of female labor and the gender wage gap in early modern Castile in the context of nursing-a non-gendered, low-skill occupation in which men and women performed the same clearly defined tasks. We employ a robust methodology to estimate the value of in-kind compensation, and show it to constitute a central part of the labor contract, far exceeding subsistence requirements. Patient admissions records are used to measure nurse productivity, which did not differ across genders. Female compensation varied between 70 percent and 100 percent of male levels, with fluctuations clearly linked to relative labor scarcity. Contrary to common assumptions in the literature, we show that markets played an important role in setting female compensation in early modern Castile. The sources of the gender disparity are, therefore, likely to be found in the broader social and cultural context

Agriculture · Compensation (psychology) · Context (archaeology) · Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economic shortage · Economics · Exploit · Geography · Labour economics · Productivity · Scarcity · Subsistence agriculture · Value (mathematics) · Wage · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Psychology · Social Psychology