The Effect of Single Women and the Early Modern Economy

Historians have shown that women are generally more accepted as workers within thriving economic environments. This is particularly true of eighteenth-century Europe, a time of economic transition, expansion and social flux. Historians have indicated a rise of never-married women in eighteenth-century towns and cities, but our knowledge of women\u27s specific roles and contributions during this time of economic expansion remains slim. My research examined and compared tax records from the parish of St. Philibert in Dijon, France between 1730 and 1750. An examination of the tax records allows historians one indication of the overall economic contribution of individual householders within specific neighborhoods. By comparing the sheer numbers of single and widowed women, and their professions, tax assessments, and living arrangements, historians can suggest a pattern of women\u27s economic involvement over time. This research serves not only as a way to verify and delineate the suggestions of other historians about the potential roles of women in the eighteenth-century urban economies, but also provides an opportunity to discover what life was like for the single, never-married, and widowed women of early modern Dijon