Mujer - History Lab

Young woman playing the virginal

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:03 +0000

Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch painter of little known production. His works are generally small in size and intimate in atmosphere. He stands out for his mastery in the use of light and the realism in the details of these interiors (characters, furniture, clothing)

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Proportions of Unmarried Women by Age and Date, 1787

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:48 +0000

Nuptiality is a demographic variable of great importance that has often been neglected in favour of the study of mortality or fertility. Its significance as a reproductive institution obtains a relevant meaning where fertility control within marriage is null or moderate. In this sense, it is necessary to specify how marriage is one of the most determining vital acts in the social sphere. In traditional societies, marriage practice was mediated by access to land, inheritance or some other significant form of livelihood. Looking at marital engagement behaviour, it is very similar between rural and urban areas at younger ages; at older ages, urban areas show important differences in the proportion of unmarried women. However, the mean age at marriage in 1787 is substantially the same in rural and urban areas, slightly higher for urban males (25.6 vs. 25.1) and slightly lower for urban females (23.2 vs. 23.8)

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Seasonality of work by sex. S’Estorell, 1658-1673

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:48 +0000

The demand for agricultural wage labour was highly seasonal, limiting the possibilities of converting it into a regular source of income. The development of agrarian capitalism contributed to this, which led to a productive specialisation in which the participation of women was lower than in the manufacturing and service sectors. The s’Estorell estate was located in the parish of Binissalem, at the foot of the Tramontana mountain range, and was the largest estate in the municipality and one of the ten most profitable on the island, with a valuation of 52,000 pounds according to the land registry of 1685. It covered 520 hectares, occupying the Almandrá valley up to the first peaks of the mountain range in the villages of Alaró and Selva. The work roles assigned to men and women could be broken when the concurrence of different work demands for different tasks in the same season demanded it. From September to January, female and child labour was absorbed in its entirety by the carob harvest (September) and later for the olive harvest (October-January). Once the olive season was over, women joined in January or February the spring weeding for cereals, generally in April and May. On the other hand, the men’s work began in August with the clearing of the olive groves (August-October) and continued from November to January with the digging of the olive trees, which was interspersed with the digging of the wheat fields. In February they began pruning the olive trees (February-April) and then grafting the olive trees (May). In summer, the demand for agricultural labour was concentrated on harvesting, although some labour was also assigned to forestry activities such as charcoal production. Seasonality was, however, a notable anomaly. Around 44% of the working days were contributed by labourers and 56% by day labourers. Female labour accounted for 75% of the working days, male labourers for 17% and child labour was absent, at least in the account books.

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Wage ratios between labourers and the gender gap in the estates of S’Estorell and Son Costa (1658-1680)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:02 +0000

In recent years, there has been an extensive historiographical debate on women’s participation in rural professional markets and on the wage gap between men and women before 1800. At the same time, there is also no consensus on the wage share of farm household income. However, wage studies have shown that women were paid significantly less than men for the same work. This gap persisted throughout the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, although it narrowed moderately during periods of intense labour demand. The S’Estorell estate was located in the parish of Binissalem, at the foot of the Tramontana mountain range, and was the largest estate in the municipality and one of the ten most profitable on the island, with a valuation of 52,000 pounds according to the land registry of 1685. It covered 520 hectares, occupying the valley of Almandrá up to the first peaks of the mountain range in the villages of Alaró and Selva. In the mid-17th century, on the Safortesa estate, salaries were paid in cash, in current money or in kind when they were of a mixed nature. In some years, wages were paid in kind, in wheat at the request of the labourers. Payments for extra work were recorded separately from the agreed wage. On the other hand, the tasks of grafting and pruning were considered the most skilled, as both were paid with a mixed wage consisting of a monetary wage and a supplement in kind called companatge (condumio), consisting of a casserole with vegetables, accompanied by salted fish or cheese, wine, oil and bread. The master was paid 6-8 salaries a day, depending on the type of tree; his assistants received 4 salaries a day. The cost of companatge was 1.5 sueldos/day in the above-mentioned years. In the middle years of the 17th century, pruning was not as important as it became in later periods, when the olive trees were mature and their yield depended on more energetic pruning. The wage in this case was 51% lower than for grafting and 29-39% higher than for digging the roots. However, the range of women’s wages was narrower: seasonal workers received a mixed monthly wage, part in money and part in oil, plus other supplements such as accommodation, firewood, water and transport to and from their residence to the farm. The wage for picking olives was 20% higher than the one for digging in the pedios. In short, the wage gap for similar work (digging cereals) in the highlands and plains was still very high, with women’s wages representing less than 40% of men’s, figures very similar to those of the mid-16th century.

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Long-term legitimate fertility rates in the Lower Minho (Pontevedra). Ages of women (thousand women). Before 1750. Age groups; Legitimate Fertility-Theoretical Descent

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:52 +0000

The pace of life of European populations seems to require more and more than a demographic micro-analysis, a new approach to traditional space, more prolonged towards the contemporary age. The lower Minho (Pontevedra) is one of the most industrialised areas of the country, where, in addition, the control of late births is presented as a privileged laboratory for the study of a complex problem of human reproduction. Michael W. Flinn, in a synthesis work of 1981, did not respect legitimate fertility as a privileged indicator of legitimate fertility rates by age groups of women. He distinguishes three periods: one before 1750, one from 1740 to 1790 and one from 1780 to 1820. The table shows that the pressure on fertility before 1750 is greater in France than in the other two countries, particularly in relation to England. However, Michael Anderson, in a paper published in 1988, presents research on the timing of marital fertility for the selected regions. Germany, England and France, which are divided in the table into four zones: north-west, north-east, south-west and south-east. As can be seen, in the three cases considered, before the middle of the 19th century, a decrease in the birth rate can be observed in France.

The post Long-term legitimate fertility rates in the Lower Minho (Pontevedra). Ages of women (thousand women). Before 1750. Age groups; Legitimate Fertility-Theoretical Descent first appeared on History Lab.

Labour force in cotton spinning in Catalonia in 1842 according to P. Madoz

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:52 +0000

In the wool-producing villages of central Catalonia, the importance of women’s work was very significant. In 1763, in Sallent, 14 women and five men were needed to run a loom. In Castellterçol, wool provided work for 2,300 people, 2,030 of whom were women. Based on the looms declared in the comarca of Bages and the women needed to run them, according to data from the Floridablanca Census, 57.3% and 86% of the women were involved in spinning. Thanks to various reports at the end of the 18th century, many productive activities – both in craft and agricultural areas – were carried out by women, whose labour force could grow and shrink depending on the demand for products. However, the mechanisation of cotton spinning and weaving was significantly reduced by eliminating the manual spinning that took up more labour. Madoz, in his Diccionario, provides a series of data on the textile industry in 1842, giving information on the sex of the workers. Women were in the majority in cotton spinning in Catalonia (61.6%), followed by children of both sexes (33%) and the marginal role of men (5.3%). However, it does not seem that each spinner worked at home and reproduced a proto-industrial model, but rather that the manufacturers tended to concentrate a few machines on the premises: the berguedanas.

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Average age at first marriage from Otero de Herreros and Mozoncillo (Segovia): 1710-1849

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:52 +0000

On the Spanish matrimonial model of the Modern Age, singularly applicable from the data available to some few areas of the Crown of Castile in the 16th century, Castilian examples were established which could be extended in some isolated cases to other peninsular regions -such as Valencia-. This would prove the Iberian delay in the adoption of the matrimonial pattern common to the Western European civilisation of the Modern Age. The results of the table seem to prove a continuity throughout the 18th century and part of the 19th century of the pattern in force in the 16th century with respect to the ages at the time of first marriage: totally anomalous ages in the context of other areas of Western Europe at the time. For men it is around 24 years of age and between 20 and 22 for women, taking into account the modal ages and not the average ages. Hajnal pointed to a marriage model characterised by two basic components: age at marriage and definitive celibacy. This second consideration was accused as a demographic and social burden in the 17th and 18th centuries, while the constant migratory flow from many areas of the peninsula and the consequent rates of masculinity at different ages could not fail to cause a high proportion of definitive female celibacy. In the second half of the 18th century, the definitive proportion of bachelors and spinsters in the 40-50 age group was 11.9 for males and 11.4 for females in Spain as a whole according to the Floridablanca Census.

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The evolution of generational demographic parameters in Southern Western Galicia (1584-1670)

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

The resource deals with the demographic evolution of four generations, looking at their family composition, number of families, ages of access to marriage and the duration of marriage, among other items, between 1584 and 1670. The geographical area is centred on the south of western Galicia, the Bajo Miño, through the study of the rural parish of San Martín de Caldelas; a North Atlantic demographic model marked by the late age of access to marriage for women (24.5 years), the low level of second marriages (16.7%) and the duration of marriage (25 years) which resulted in a duration of fertility for couples of 13.9 years. The intergenerational synthesis reflected in the resource is reflected in the exponential growth of the parish which, after 100 years, had to be remodelled to increase its capacity to welcome the faithful. The growth, according to the author’s study, was mainly due to the nuptiality; a framework of legitimised fecundity, and the low mortality of those born.

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