Female Entrepreneurship in Nineteenth-Century England

Abstract

Palgrave Studies in Economic History is designed to illuminate and enrich our understanding of economies and economic phenomena of the past. Th e series covers a vast range of topics including fi nancial history, labour history, development economics, commercialisation, urbanisation, industrialisation, modernisation, globalisation, and changes in world economic orders.

Changes in Victorian entrepreneurship in England and Wales 1851-1911: Methodology and business population estimates

“…A key finding from the new data is that there are much higher numbers of female proprietors than found in previous studies (e.g. Aston, 2016;Kay, 2009), despite limitations of the census data. It is also clear that a significant aspect of aggregate and sector changes derived from changing female participation.…”

“…Having information on proprietor numbers gives new scope to assess these long-standing debates about productivity, occupational structure and firm organisation. In addition, data on interactions with changing household structure, female labour force participation, and composition of proprietorship by sex can address important debates in contemporary business history about the extent of female entrepreneurship (Aston, 2016;Kay, 2009) and evolving social structures (Smith et al, 2021a). Assessment of female participation has been bedevilled by poor recording in historical records.…”

The British business census of entrepreneurs and firm-size, 1851–1881: New data for economic and business historians

“…The BBCE also allows an analysis of gender, thus contributing to an increasing understanding of female entrepreneurship patterns in the nineteenth century (see e.g., Kay 2009;Aston 2016;Van Lieshout et al 2019). The BBCE also shows that, despite previous well-known criticisms of the census as a source for identifying women's business activities (see e.g., Higgs 1987;Anderson 1999), use of the CEBs overcomes that most of the deficiencies that derive for the editing of the data by GRO in publications; the original census responses provide much more complete coverage.…”

Discovering a Global Perspective

“…This indicates female business owners were included in polite society rather than being excluded from it merely because they engaged in trade. 28 On the other hand, chapters by Kari Zimmerman on Brazil, and Carmen María Hernández-Nicolás and Susana Martínez-Rodríguez on Spain, point to the ideology of domesticity being stronger in particular societies, notably those in which the Catholic church dominated, requiring some adept manipulation by some women on the one hand, although providing opportunities in family businesses on the other.…”