The contribution of women's work, although devalued and invisible, was fundamental in the industrialization of Catalonia and without it, neither the economic development nor the social evolution of contemporary Catalonia can be fully understood (Nash, 1988: 159). But this work is especially difficult to recognize because historical statistical sources very poorly record the work of women and children (Humphries and Sarasúa, 2012). What would this possible underreporting of women imply? Borderías and Pérez Fuentes (2009: 272) explain that they have only just begun to become aware of the importance of their impact on some central problems of economic and social history, such as: the formation of industrial labor markets; the supposed labor deficit during the industrialization processes in some Spanish regions, the calculations of agricultural and industrial productivity; the living standards of the working classes, the relationships between patterns of nuptiality, fertility, infant mortality,… All these concepts, their importance and relevance, and the factors from which they are a consequence, both from the supply side and from the of demand, are explained by Sarasúa and Gálvez (2003: 10-33). This dissertation starts from this extensive literature and applies its methodological conclusions to the different case studies of Catalonia analyzed here. We will mainly focus on the 19th century, although as we will see throughout this writing, carrying out deep-seated dives in the 18th century will be obligatory, just as at certain times it will be inescapable, we will dive in the first quarter of the century XX, in order to better understand the historical relationship between women's work and economic development. Answers to the following questions will be sought: 1) Can it be demonstrated for Catalonia that the increase in employment in non-agricultural activities was not the result of Industrialization, but that it already existed previously?; 2) Is it possible to emerge the work of women and infants in Catalonia in the 19th century?: 3) Can we calculate new activity rates for Catalonia in the 19th century?; 4) How and under what conditions did women and children enter the labor market?; 5) Can we demonstrate that the earnings obtained from the work of women and children were vital to family subsistence?.
Tras los pasos de Francisco de Zamora. Trabajo de las mujeres y reconstrucción de las tasas de actividad en Cataluña (siglos XVIII -XIX).
Lopez Anton, M. (Author). 23 Feb 2021
Student thesis: Doctoral thesis
Student thesis: Doctoral thesis