Women, Business, and Finance in Nineteenth-century Europe

Looking at women, business and finance in the long nineteenth century, this book challenges our traditional understanding of 'separate spheres' -- whereby men operated in the public world of work and women in the private realm of the domestic. Drawing on case studies throughout Europe, this book reveals that there was much greater diversity in women's economic experience across all social strata than has previously been understood.International contributors take a new look at women's roles in finance and investment, family-owned businesses, retailing, service activities, and the artisanal trades. They reveal that elite and middle-class women often manipulated financial resources in a highly sophisticated manner. Family-owned businesses and retail trade geared to women, such as grocery and fashion, also offered women opportunities. Throughout, the book considers the impact of industrialization on women's economic agency and examines women in the accommodation business in London, female entrepreneurs in Italy, prostitutes in Germany, family businesses in Sweden, women in publishing in Spain and much more.

ISBN 1845201841   Pages 256 ISBN13 9781845201845 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher A & C Black Publishers Ltd   Weight (grammes) 519 Imprint Berg Publishers   Published in Oxford Format Hardback   Height (mm) 234 Publication date 01 Dec 2005   Width (mm) 156 Library of Congress 2005029982   Spine width (mm) 19 DEWEY 940.28   Academic level Tertiary education DEWEY edition DC22

1		Introduction by Beatrice Craig and Robert Beachy and Alastair Owens		1
2		'Making some provision for the contingencies to which their sex is particularly liable' : women and investment in early nineteenth-century England by Alastair Owens		20
3		'The silent partners' : women, capital and the development of the financial system in nineteenth century Sweden by Tom Petersson		36
4		'Where have all the businesswomen gone?' : images and reality in the life of nineteenth-century middle-class women in northern France by Beatrice Craig		52
5		'Profit and propriety' : Sophie Henschel and gender management in the German locomotive industry by Robert Beachy		67
6		Artisan women and management in nineteenth-century Barcelona by Juanjo Romero-Marin		81
7		Women and publishing in nineteenth century Spain by Gloria Espigado		96
8		Businesswomen in Austria by Irene Bandhauer-Schoffmann		110
9		Belgium's tradeswomen by Valerie Piette		126
10		Limited opportunities? : female retailing in nineteenth-century Sweden by Tom Ericsson		139
11		Retailing, respectability and the independent woman in nineteenth century London by Alison C. Kay		152
12		Hidden professions? : female 'placers' of domestic servants in nineteenth-century Dutch cities by Marlou Schrover		167
13		The business of sex : evaluating prostitution in the German port city of Hamburg by Julia Bruggeman		182

'Provides a wealth of insights into the financial agency of businesswomen in the complex economic structures of nineteenth-century Europe. The compelling and lucid case studies will make an excellent contribution to the reassessment of gender roles in this period.' Kathryn Gleadle, Oxford University'Women, Business and Finance in Nineteenth-Century Europe brings together some of the best scholarly work on the history of women in business. Sophisticated, nuanced, and ever alert to the contradictory workings of gender, this wonderfully accessible collection convincingly challenges the conventional wisdom of separate spheres.' Wendy Gamber, Indiana University 'Through this collection of cutting-edge research, expertly framed by the editors, the analysis of both women's contribution to financial practice and gender relations in business in the European past is taken to a new level.' Katrina Honeyman, University of Leeds'Highly original material and well researched--providing

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