Sociabilidad femenina - History Lab

The 12th Marquise of Villafranca painting her husband

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000

María Tomasa de Palafox, Marquise of Villafranca, received a careful education under the personal guidance of her mother, María Francisca de Sales Portocarreño, Countess of Montijo. The Countess was secretary for 18 years of the Junta de Damas de Honor y Mérito, an institution founded in 1775 within the framework of the Real Sociedad Económica Matritense, which was very actively involved in social reform programmes (such as the education of women and the improvement of women’s and inclusive prisons). María Tomasa continued her mother’s work and participated in the activities of the Sociedad Matritense, showing great interest in new pedagogical ideas and scientific development. Thus, they claimed women’s rights outside the discourse of excellence, which accepted equality as valid only for those women who were considered extraordinary for their qualities. However, the artistic, scientific and literary academies did not exclude women, but in practice, few were able to join them. The San Fernando Academy was one of the first to allow women to join, and in 1766 it had ten women painters and an honorary president, the Countess of Fuentes. The Academy frequently placed limits on women’s training in painting and they were not allowed to attend classes in life drawing or nudes, nor were they allowed to deviate from “feminine” subjects such as paintings of flowers or landscapes.

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The industry

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000

In the 18th century, the enlightened project of the Bourbon Monarchy opened the doors of the guilds to women, eliminating the restrictions that had excluded them until then without incorporating new forms of production. From then on, the first public schools for girls from the lower classes were promoted, giving them an essential role in the tasks “proper to their sex” (those related to textiles). The textile workshops were spaces of sociability and mutual support for women who worked 12-14 hour days in less healthy hygienic conditions than the work suggests. Neither age nor health were clear limits to their involvement in the task of spinning linen, cotton, silk or wool, work that took place in factories in rural areas and, especially, in the domestic sphere. Some women became masters in trades linked to the textile industry, such as cordwainers or weavers, although this may be an exception.

The post The industry first appeared on History Lab.

The washerwomen

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000

The work of the washerwomen depicted in Goya’s composition shows one of the trades that remained intact in Madrid society until well into the 20th century. They are women who washed for their families, but also for middle- and upper-class people or for institutions such as hospitals and barracks. It was a widespread and low-income profession, as well as physically hard, as it required a stooped position and permanent contact with water. These washhouses were places of female sociability where women shared joys, knowledge, confidences, jokes and laughter. In 1790, a Royal Decree addressed to this group prohibited them from shouting and making obscene gestures to passers-by, which raises the question of male behaviour.

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