Research on women’s economic activities in the long 19th century has grown significantly over the last two decades, but until recently it often developed within the frameworks of national and regional studies. Collection of essays edited by Aston and Bishop (2020) was among the first attempts to provide a global comparative perspective on development of female entrepreneurship. This approach “highlights similarities, illuminates differences and encourages economic, social, business and gender historians to ask new questions” (Aston & Bishop, 2020, p. 3). Our panel aims to contribute to this discussion by bringing together doctoral and early career researchers, investigating female entrepreneurship (broadly defined) in the long 19th century. In particular, we are interested in works that look beyond early industrialized nations of Western Europe and instead shed light on the global “periphery”. Throughout the long 19th century these countries experienced intensive “catching-up” in industrialization and rise in international trade. At the same time, many countries underwent significant reforms, which increased access to market activities for larger sections of their populations. But did men and women benefit from these processes equally? How did the faster pace of economic and social changes affect women’s livelihoods? We welcome papers that investigate the ways opportunities to earn a living were shaped by economic change together with gendered laws, institutions, and customs. This panel also seeks to discuss methodological challenges related to historical research in women’s economic agency, such as fragmentary sources and biases in academic literature.

Submission guideline:
Please submit your paper proposal (abstract) of no more than 500 words to Johanne Arnfred (johanne.arnfred@ekh.lu.se), Sanna Kuusikari (sanna.kuusikari@tuni.fi) and Valeria Peshko (valeriia.peshko@helsinki.fi) no later than December 22nd, 2023.

Selected papers will be included in a proposal for a full session for the WEHC. Acceptance is conditional on the proposal being accepted for the congress.

Organizers: Johanne Arnfred, PhD researcher, University of Lund, Sweden; Sanna Kuusikari, PhD researcher, University of Tampere, Finland; Valeria Peshko, PhD researcher, University of Helsinki, Finland.