Jonas Lindström

Making verbs count : the research project 'Gender and Work' and its methodology

Abstract While gender relations in the post-1800 labour market have been subject to much scholarly scrutiny, less is known about how women and men supported themselves in the early modern period. This article discusses the reasons for this lacuna and explores various approaches that could be used to increase knowledge in the field. It describes the verb-oriented method, used by the Gender and Work project at Uppsala University and inspired by the work of Sheilagh Ogilvie. Understanding ‘work’ as ‘use of time with the goal of making a living’, the method consists in systematic collection of verb phrases such as ‘to fish herring’, ‘to sell clothes’, etc. The article also presents the database GaW, which is designed so as to make possible systematic analysis of large sets of verb phrases.

Interdependent living: labouring families and the Swedish mining industry in the late seventeenth century

Abstract The history of the labouring family has gained increasing attention among European scholars in the last decades, but in Sweden, it remains an under-researched topic. Still, in the early modern period, labourers and their families made vital contributions to the country’s important mining industry. This paper examines the household economy of labouring families related to the mining industry in two Swedish areas in the late seventeenth century. On the basis on account books and court records, combined with demographic data, we explore the diversity of livelihoods and the complex web of interdependencies that made this economy feasible. We show that, while monetary remuneration was limited, wage labour in mines and metalwork gave the labouring family access to resources in the form of land, labour and credit beyond its own assets. Within the household, the man generally worked for wages, while his wife made use of the use-rights that came with his employment. The mining industry, and thereby also Swedish state finances, depended on this diverse family economy. In conclusion, interdependence, rather than the independent economic position described by classical models of early modern households, characterized the household economy of the labouring family.

Mistress or maid : The structure of women’s work in Sweden, 1550–1800

Based on the verb-oriented method and a unique collection of observations from court records, this article shows that both men and women did almost all categories of work in early modern Sweden. On the level of concrete tasks, however, there was both difference and similarity between the genders. Marital status exerted a strong influence on womens sustenance activities, creating a clear distinction between unmarried and ever-married women. These patterns were probably the effect of a labour legislation that forced young people without independent means to offer their bodies and time to masters and mistresses.