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The Whole Economy

Work and Gender in Early Modern Europe

Maria Ågren editor Catriona Macleod editor Alexandra Shepard editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:15th Jun '23

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The Whole Economy cover

Advocating a gender-inclusive approach, this book highlights the transformative potential of including women's work in wider assessments of economic performance. It provides a key point of reference in debates about the character of early modern economic development as well as a lasting contribution to the gender history of early modern Europe.Advocating a gender-inclusive approach to the history of work, this book both counts and accounts for women's as well as men's economic activity. Showcasing novel conceptual, methodological and empirical perspectives, it highlights the transformative potential of including women's work in wider assessments of continuity and change in economic performance. Focusing on the period of European history (1500-1800) that generated unprecedented growth in the northwest – which, in turn, was linked to the global redistribution of resources and upon which industrialisation depended – the book spans key arenas in which women produced change: households, care, agriculture, rural manufacture, urban markets, migration, and war. The analysis refutes the stubborn contention of mainstream economic history that we can generalise about economic performance by focusing solely on the work of adult men and demonstrates that women were active agents in the early modern economy rather than passively affected by changes wrought upon them.

ISBN: 9781009359368

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 13mm

Weight: 360g

259 pages