Ariadne Schmidt

Reconsidering The “Firstmale-Breadwinner Economy”: Women's Labor Force Participation in the Netherlands, 1600--1900

Abstract This contribution provides methods for estimating developments in womens labor force participation (LFP) in the Netherlands, for both preindustrial and industrializing eras. It explains long-term developments in Dutch LFP and concludes that the existing image of Dutch womens historically low participation in the labor market should be reconsidered. Contrary to what many economic historians have supposed, Dutch womens LFP was not lower, and was perhaps even higher, than elsewhere in the pre-1800 period. As in other Western European countries, the decline of (married) Dutch womens LFP only started in the nineteenth century, though it then probably declined faster than elsewhere. Thus, this study concludes that the Netherlands did not constitute the “first male-breadwinner economy,” as historians and economists have suggested. Scrutinizing the nineteenth-century data in more detail suggests that a complex of demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural changes resulted in this sharp decline of Dutch womens crude activity rates.

Overleven na de dood. Weduwen in Leiden in de Gouden Eeuw.

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Broken families: Economic resources and social networks of women who head families

Over the past forty years family history has been one of the main growth areas in the development of social history. The lines of inquiry have been broad and fruitful, shedding light on many aspects of family life in the past: regarding demographic patterns, emotional bonding among family members, the economy of households, and more recently the interaction between families and their institutional environment (Anderson, 1995). Though immensely diverse in approach, methodology and subject matter, historical research on family life has one thing in common: it defines families as economic, social or emotional household units, containing parents and children, sometimes including servants, tenants or young employees. Although recognizing that demographic patterns of high mortality resulted in a surplus of women, especially in pre-industrial European urban societies, still a lot of research remains to be done on how such demographic patterns precisely affectedwomens position in the household and their chances of economic and emotional survival. One major effect of demographic patterns was that relatively large groups of women and their families had to cope, temporarily or permanently, without a male (adult) breadwinner. This seems to have been the case inWestern European seafaring communities and highly urbanized areas especially. This special issue presents new research on the ways in which women and their families survived economically and socially without a male household head (temporarily or permanently) and the ways in which society responded to such families. What legal and economic resources did widows and seamens wives and their families have? Did governments, church organizations, or business companies respond to demographic patterns by setting up regulations and networks that would better the familys chances?

Managing a large household. The gender division of work in orphanages in Dutch towns in the early modern period, 1580–1800

Early modern social institutions were modelled analogous to the family, and work within these institutions strongly depended upon the co-operation of women and men. This type of organization seems to be contradictory to processes of professionalization and bureaucratization. This article investigates to what extent professionalization and bureaucratization took place in early modern orphanages and how this influenced the gender division of work. By analyzing various occupations, remuneration and access to work in three Dutch orphanages it becomes clear that the frequently mentioned characteristics that made ‘typical’ womens work combinable with womens reproductive tasks, were not all applicable and cannot wholly explain female access to these occupations. Work was characterized by an increasing differentiation, hierarchy and, to a certain extent, bureaucratization tendencies. At the same time, the gender division sharpened. However, the late eighteenth century ideology of women as nurturers and the strong analogy to the role women were supposed to play within the household prevented exclusion from this domain.

Survival strategies of widows and their families in early modern Holland, c. 1580–1750

This article analyses the impact of widowhood upon women in early modern urban society in Holland. Widows were able to maintain their households and to minimize the discontinuity with their lives when married. A remarkably egalitarian inheritance and marital property law, access to a broad range of occupations, a privileged status, an extended poor relief system, institutionalised mutual assistance and new forms of financial provisions for widows enabled widows to survive after the loss of an adult male breadwinner. However, legal rights, social provisions and economic opportunities available to women in the Dutch Golden Age and thereafter, could not prevent social polarization after women lost their spouse.

'Between Wage Labor and Vocation: Child Labor in Dutch Urban Industry, 1600-1800'

Although child labor was a widespread phenomenon in the pre-industrial Dutch economy, we do not know very much about it. This article aims to expand our knowledge by looking at childrens work in several urban industries in the Dutch Republic. By investigating the kind of economic activities children performed, their starting age, working and living conditions and the amount of training they received, we want to typify pre-industrial child labour more specifically. Did childrens work serve as a necessary source of wage income, or rather as a vocational training for their later participation in the labour market? It will appear that this characterization as ‘work’ or ‘training’ depended largely on the childs age, sex and social background. These distinctions may help further research on the performance of preindustrial economies, in which a demand for flexible labor played a crucial role.

Public Services and Women's Work in Early Modern Dutch Towns

This article analyzes the influence of professionalization and the broader process of bureaucratization on female labor participation in the public service sector in early modern towns in the Dutch province of Holland. Contrary to suggestions in other literature, women were found in a broad range of public offices, and developments in this sector did not lead to the exclusion of women in the course of the early modern period. Women were mainly employed in the lowest level jobs in the sector, and their work was barely affected by professionalization. Furthermore, the strong division of labor along gender lines prevented the exclusion of women. Specialization and diversification of work resulted, instead, in an expansion of employment opportunities, not only for men but also for women.

The profits of unpaid work. ‘Assisting labour’ of women in the early modern urban Dutch economy

In the debates on the significance of womens work, wage labour attracted most attention. Womens unpaid assistance directed to a male relative or the family business was highly invisible and is often neglected by historians. This leads to the underestimation of womens work in the past. Even though in the Dutch Republic changes in labour relations reduced the opportunity for spouses to work in partnership, much work was carried out as unpaid ‘assistance’ within the context of the family economy. This article gives an overview of womens unpaid work, highlights the different activities carried out by women and shows that ‘assisting labour’ could be found in various sectors of the commercialized economy of the Dutch Republic. It points at the significance of unpaid work for both the family enterprise as well as the local economy. It is emphasized that, contrary to what is often believed, marriage opened up opportunities for women to be economically active.

Generous provisions or legitimate shares? Widows and the transfer of property in 17th-century Holland

This article addresses the role of inheritance in the economic well-being of widows in early modern urban Holland. It discusses marital property law and inheritance law, as well as inheritance practices, by analysing marriage contracts and wills. The egalitarian distribution of property and the strong commitment to the nuclear family embedded in law was strengthened by wills. Widows benefited from these tendencies. A comparison with English law points to the strong position of Dutch widows. The legal system enabled widows to continue the household after the death of their spouses and in this respect their situation was remarkably similar to that of widowers.

Introduction: unmarried and unknown: urban men and women in the low countries since the early modern period

This essay introduces a special issue on The Lure of the City that examines the attraction of towns to unmarried men and women in the Low Countries during the early modern period and the nineteenth century. The issue has the relation between singles and cities as its main focus. Singles were present in disproportionately large numbers in urban areas, but the question is why? This essay sets out the historiographical framework for the contributions in the issue, discusses the sources and methodologies used, and provides a brief overview of the evolution of singleness in the Low Countries. The contributions all demonstrate the relevance of a comparative approach. It is revealed that towns and cities not only attracted but also created singles, that they offered different opportunities for different groups of unmarried people and that they affected men and women differently. Finally, it appears that not every town and city was attractive to men and women without a spouse.