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Women’s Path to Economic Autonomy in Italy

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Gendered Stereotypes and Female Entrepreneurship in Southern Europe, 1700-1900

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Abstract

The theme of women’s economic emancipation during the nineteenth—to early—twentieth centuries in Italy has been explored by feminist historians. Italian women suffered discrimination from men until early 1900s as married women were precluded from running, or managing shops, or firms without their husbands’ consent. The stability of the family and the harmony in society were the tenets upon which the social web was structured excluding female participation and contribution. Moreover, economically active women were viewed as a threat for undermining society’s steady foundations because people thought that female entrepreneurship paved the way for female financial liberation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Curli, B., (2002), ‘Women Entrepreneurs and Italian Industrialization: Conjectures and Avenues for Research’, Enterprise and Society, vol. 3:4, (634–656).

  2. 2.

    Groppi, A., (2002), ‘A matter of Fact rather than Principle: Women, Work and Property in papal Rome (eighteenth-nineteenth centuries)’, Journal of Modern Italian Studies 7:1, (37–55).

  3. 3.

    Brown, J.C., & Goodman, J., (1980), ‘Women and industry in Florence’, Journal of Economic. History, 40:1, (73–80).

  4. 4.

    Licini, S., (2011), ‘Assessing female wealth in nineteenth century Milan, Italy’, Accounting History 16:1, (35–54).

  5. 5.

    Parker, D., (1996), ‘Women in the Book Trade in Italy, 1475–1620’, Renaissance Quarterly 49:3, (509–541), p. 509.

  6. 6.

    Groppi, A., (1998), ‘Jews, Women, Soldiers and Neophytes: The Practice of Trade Under Exclusions and Privileges (Rome from Seventeenth to the Early Nineteenth Centuries), in: Alberto Guenzi, et al. (eds.), Guilds, Markets and Work Regulations in Italy, sixteenth-nineteenth centuries, Ashgate, p. 381.

  7. 7.

    Kuehn, Th., (1991), Law, Family and Women: Toward a legal anthropology of Renaissance Italy. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, pp. 221, 233, and 235.

  8. 8.

    More on Florence and women’s contribution in the local economy, see: Brown, J., & Goodman, J., (1980), ‘Women and industry in Florence’, ibid.

  9. 9.

    Iida, M., (2012), ‘Florence Textiles for the Ottoman Empire in the Seventeenth Century’, Mediterranean World 21, (179–196).

  10. 10.

    Honeyman, K., & Goodman, J., (1991), ‘Women’s work, gender, conflict and labour markets in Europe, 1500–1900’, Economic History Review, 44:4, (608–628), p. 613.

  11. 11.

    Ibid., p. 613.

  12. 12.

    In Chaps. 6 and 7 of the present book I discuss Italian women’s economic contribution focusing on agriculture as well as on their participation in the guilds respectively by making comparisons with other countries.

  13. 13.

    Groppi, A., (2002), ‘A matter of Fact rather than Principle: Women, Work and Property in Papal Rome (eighteen-nineteen centuries)’, ibid., pp. 39–40.

  14. 14.

    Ibid., p. 40.

  15. 15.

    Licini, S., (2006), Women, wealth and finance (nineteenth century Italy), [Draft], IEHC-Helsinki, www.helsinki.fi/ehc2006/papers3

  16. 16.

    Licini, S., (2011), ‘Assessing female wealth…’, ibid.

  17. 17.

    A mundualdus was a legal guardian assigned with the task of validating a woman’s (usually a female relative’s) legal activities. The mundualdo system came out of the Lombard law and was in force in all Italian regions apart from the places that adhered to Roman law. These were Venice, Treviso, Friuli, Belluno, Genoa, Verona, Vicenza, and Rome. In the above regions researchers found out that women were ‘free of the mundualdus’. See more in: King, C., (1998), Renaissance Women Patrons: Wives and Widows in Italy, c. 1300–1550, Manchester University Press, pp. 77–78.

  18. 18.

    Kuehn, Th., ibid., p. 233.

  19. 19.

    See more about it in Chap. 4 of the present book.

  20. 20.

    Fazio, I., (2004), ‘The family, honour and gender in Sicily: models and new research’, Modern Italy, 9:2, (263–280), p. 267.

  21. 21.

    On seventeenth-century female enterprises in Rome, see: Canepari, E., (2013), ‘Women on Their Way: Employment Opportunities in Cosmopolitan Rome’, in: Simonton, D., & Montenach, A., (eds.), Female Agency in the Urban Economy: Gender in European Towns, 1640–1830, Routledge, London & New York, (Chapter 12).

  22. 22.

    Groppi, A., (2002), ‘A matter of Fact rather than Principle: ibid., p. 48.

  23. 23.

    Canepari, E., ‘Women on Their Way: Employment Opportunities…’, ibid.

  24. 24.

    Groppi, A., (2002), ‘A matter of Fact…’, ibid., p. 49.

  25. 25.

    See more about him in the following books: Cross, H., (1990), Rome in the Age of Enlightenment: The Post Tridentine Syndrome and the Ancient Regime, Cambridge University Press: Felisini, D., (2017), Alessandro Torlonia: The Pope’s Banker, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland.

  26. 26.

    Groppi, A., (2002), ‘A matter of Fact…’, ibid., p. 49.

  27. 27.

    See about her in Chap. 3 in the present book.

  28. 28.

    Groppi, A., (2002), ‘A matter of Fact…’, ibid., p. 49.

  29. 29.

    Ibid., p. 49.

  30. 30.

    Ephemeris ton Kyrion, (newspaper), 15th March 1892, issue 251, Athens, p. 4.

  31. 31.

    Groppi, A., (2002), ‘A matter of Fact…’, ibid., p. 49.

  32. 32.

    Ibid., p. 50.

  33. 33.

    Guenzi, A., et al. (eds.), (2016), Guilds, Markets and Work Regulations in Italy, Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries, Routledge, London & New York.

  34. 34.

    Groppi, A., (2002), ‘A matter of Fact…’, ibid., p. 50.

  35. 35.

    Giunta, E., & Sciorra, J., (eds.) (2014), Embroidered Stories: Interpreting Women’s Domestic Needlework from the Italian Diaspora, University Press of Mississippi, (n.p.).

  36. 36.

    Giunta, E., & Sciorra, J., (eds.), (2014), Embroidered Stories…, ibid.

  37. 37.

    Italian-needlework.blogspot.com/2010

  38. 38.

    www.discoverpistoia.it/en/topics/arte/836-17-15.magicalhands.html

  39. 39.

    Curli, B., (2002), ‘Women Entrepreneurs …, ibid., p. 648.

  40. 40.

    On women entrepreneurs in Umbria, see: Curli, B., (ed.), (2003), Donne imprenditrici nella storia dell’ Umbria: Ipotesi e percorsi di ricerca, FrancoAngeli, Milano.

  41. 41.

    Curli, B., (2002), ibid., p. 649.

  42. 42.

    http://www.nstle.com/aboutus/history/nestle-company-history/luisa-spagnoli-baci-perugina

  43. 43.

    Picciaia, F., (2017), ‘“In spite of everything?” Female entrepreneurship from a historical perspective: The Italian businesswoman Luisa Spagnoli (1877–1935)’, Journal of Management History, 23:4, (436–451), p. 441. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMH-02-2017-0004

  44. 44.

    Ibid., pp. 441–442.

  45. 45.

    Valsangiacomo, N., & Lorenzetti, l., (eds.) (2010), Donne e Lavoro:Prospettive per una storia delle montagne europee XVIII–XX secc., (Introduction), FrancoAngeli, Milano.

  46. 46.

    Picciaia, F., ibid., p. 441.

  47. 47.

    Beccalli, B., (1985), ‘Le politiche del lavoro femminile in Italia; donne, sindacati e stato tra il 1974 e il 1984’, Stato mercate 15:3, (423–459).

  48. 48.

    Picciaia, F., ibid., p. 441.

  49. 49.

    Caldwell, L., (1991), Italian Family Matters: Women, Politics and Legal Reform, Springer, pp. 103–104.

  50. 50.

    Picciaia, F., ibid., p. 441.

  51. 51.

    https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luisa_Spagnioli

  52. 52.

    Bellucci, A., Mari, L.M., & Picciaia, F., (2016), ‘The Her story of the «Società Anonima per Azioni Perugina»: The Role of Luisa Spagnoli in the Development of the Italian Chocolate Industry in the First 30 Years of the Twentieth Century’, in: Sargiacomo, M., et al. (eds.), Accounting and Food: Some Italian Experience, Routledge, London & New York, p. 173.

  53. 53.

    Ibid., p. 173.

  54. 54.

    http://www.nstle.com, ibid.

  55. 55.

    Bellucci, A., Mari, L.M., & Picciaia, F., ibid., p. 173.

  56. 56.

    Upon Annibales’ withdrawal from the company, Luisa was engaged in a love affair with the son of her business partner, Giovanni Buitoni. The couple had a deep and affectionate relationship but they never lived together according to testimonies and memories of people who were very close to them. See: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luisa_Spagnioli

  57. 57.

    https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luisa_Spagnioli

  58. 58.

    Picciaia, F., ibid., p. 443.

  59. 59.

    Ibid.

  60. 60.

    http://www.nstle.com, ibid.

  61. 61.

    Bellucci, A., ibid., p. 179.

  62. 62.

    Bassoli, M., & Caldaro, M., (2003), Essere imprenditrici: Fenomenologia di storie femminili d’ impresa, FrancoAngeli, Milano, p. 95.

  63. 63.

    Pescarolo, A., (2007), ‘Fra impresa marginale e società di famiglia: le imprenditrici toscane nel quadro italiano, in Fondazione ASSI’ Annali di storia dell’ impresa, 18/2007, Padova, Marsilio, (171–208).

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  1. International Hellenic University, Glyfada, Greece

    Polly Thanailaki

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Thanailaki, P. (2021). Women’s Path to Economic Autonomy in Italy. In: Gendered Stereotypes and Female Entrepreneurship in Southern Europe, 1700-1900. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66234-9_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66234-9_5

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