FEMALE AGENCY IN THE URBAN ECONOMY by Deborah Simonton (Editor), Anne Montenach (Editor) ( 9781136275029 )

Item Details

Title:

FEMALE AGENCY IN THE URBAN ECONOMY
GENDER IN EUROPEAN TOWNS, 1640-1830

By:

Deborah Simonton (Editor), Anne Montenach (Editor)

Format:

Electronic book text

List price:	£39.99
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ISBN 10:

1136275029

ISBN 13:

9781136275029

Publisher:

TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD

Pub. date:

17 April, 2013

Series:

Routledge Research in Gender and History

Pages:

272

Synopsis:

This innovative new book is overtly and explicitly about female agency in eighteenth-century European towns. However, it positions female activity and decisions unequivocally in an urban world of institutions, laws, regulations, customs and ideologies. Gender politics complicated and shaped the day-to-day experiences of working women. Town rules and customs, as well as police and guilds' regulations, affected women's participation in the urban economy: most of the time, the formally recognized and legally accepted power of women - which is an essential component of female agency - was very limited. Yet these chapters draw attention to how women navigated these gendered terrains. As the book demonstrates, "exclusion" is too strong a word for the realities and pragmatism of women's everyday lives. Frequently guild and corporate regulations were more about situating women and regulating their activities, rather than preventing them from operating in the urban economy. Similarly corporate structures, which were under stress, found flexible strategies to incorporate women who through their own initiative and activities put pressure on the systems. Women could benefit from the contradictions between moral and social unwritten norms and economic regulations, and could take advantage of the tolerance or complicity of urban authorities towards illicit practices. Women with a grasp of their rights and privileges could defend themselves and exploit legal systems with its loopholes and contradictions to achieve economic independence and power.

Illustrations:

3 Line drawings, black and white; 13 Halftones, black and white; 8 Tables,

Publication:

Imprint:

Routledge

Returns:

Non-returnable

Some other items by this author:

A HISTORY OF EUROPEAN WOMEN'S WORK