Jefatura del Hogar - History Lab

Household structure in Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez (Albacete) by sex and marital status (1753)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:40 +0000

The family structure of the household provides us with a great deal of information to configure the society of the Ancien Régime. The Cadastre of the Marqués de la Ensenada, one of the main sources of study for the 18th century, offers us a complete vision of the Castilian household. Particularly, in this case, María del Mar Simón’s research on two rural areas on the banks of the river Júcar in La Manchuela Albacetense, Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez, reflects a generalised trend in an environment well defined by its rural dynamics and economy based on irrigated crops, hemp and flax for the production of textiles in the case of Jorquera, and dry crops, such as saffron and cereal, in the case of Casas Ibáñez. In both towns, the number of married households far exceeded the rest of the compositions (77.37% in Jorquera and 69.29% in Casas Ibáñez), highlighting the importance of widows as heads of household (12.10% and 13.19%), while male widowers tended to have second marriages. The male sector stands out, comparatively speaking, in the area of bachelorhood. One of the main reasons for this is the age of marriage, which is later for men than for women. Churchmen, subject to celibacy, also swelled the ranks of single heads of households, although this position is not considered by the author to be statistically significant. In sum, the male-headed household constituted 72.28% of single women compared to 27.72% of single women.

The post Household structure in Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez (Albacete) by sex and marital status (1753) first appeared on History Lab.

Age groups, sex and marital status of heads of household in Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez (Albacete, 1753)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:40 +0000

The marital status of the heads of household, regardless of their sex, is directly associated with the stage of the life cycle. In 1753, according to the Ensenada Cadastre, in the towns of Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez in Albacete, the majority of married people were between 25 and 34 years of age, with men and women entering marriage at an age close to the lower end of the range. Among the single heads of household, there is a majority female presence among young women under 25, while men stand out in the 25-34 age range. On the other hand, the highest number of widowers is found in the 55-64 age bracket, and decreases in the over 65 age bracket (due to remarriage); widows stand out in the same age bracket as men, however, there is a significantly higher figure in the 45-54 age bracket with 32.14% compared to 17.78% for men. In this way we can follow the life cycle of these municipalities of La Manchuela: within the group of young bachelors, men married a few years later than women, women were widowed earlier and tended to be single, while men tended to remarry from the age of 55 onwards.

The post Age groups, sex and marital status of heads of household in Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez (Albacete, 1753) first appeared on History Lab.

Structure of female-headed households in inland Spain in 1753 (%)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:27 +0000

The structure of female-headed households in inland Spain reveals that the dominant family model was the nuclear one (consisting of parents and children), with 81% of the cases. Those living alone were the second largest group with 10.4% of cases. The rest of the family models did not reach 5%. Among the groups that stand out most, nuclear and solitary, we observe a tendency towards solitude from the residential point of view: the vast majority of widows who headed the household and who lived with their children accounted for 61.3% of the cases, a figure that will decrease as the children grow up and emancipate from the family group.

The post Structure of female-headed households in inland Spain in 1753 (%) first appeared on History Lab.

Evolution of female leadership in the town of Albacete, 1787-1880

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:27 +0000

The evolution in the city of Albacete of the marital status of the female head of household remained almost unchanged between 1787 and 1880. This structural stability reveals how family models and social customs were perpetuated after the transition from the Ancien Régime to the liberal political society. Female heads of household remained between 17% and 19% of the total number of families, with widows accounting for 82.3% of the female cases. The data show that family loneliness had a woman’s name; the condition of widows emancipated them from male guardianship.

The post Evolution of female leadership in the town of Albacete, 1787-1880 first appeared on History Lab.

Female heads of household in inland Spain in 1753 (%)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:27 +0000

To speak of female heads of household in inland Spain is to speak of widowhood. Only a tenth were single and their number decreased even more from the age of 50 onwards. Women over 50 accounted for 60 percent of female-headed households, compared to 30 percent of men at the same age. This difference, apart from the higher male mortality rate, reflected to a large extent the unequal behaviour of the sexes when it came to remarriage.

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The post Female heads of household in inland Spain in 1753 (%) first appeared on History Lab.