Trabajo y formación de las mujeres en la Edad Moderna: fuentes y perspectivas historiográficas

Abstract

Recent research in labour history has challenged the presumed marginality of women in the pre-industrial economy and demonstrated the diversity of their participation in productive, commercial, and financial activities. However, less attention has been paid to the processes through which women acquired and transmitted the knowledge required to undertake such work. This article analyses women’s work and training in the Early Modern period and examines the possibilities and limitations of the sources available for reconstructing them. It combines a critical historiographical review with the qualitative analysis of a reasoned selection of notarial, judicial, administrative, and printed sources, as well as records produced by educational, religious, and charitable institutions. The findings identify informal, family-based, and institutional forms of learning and show that women’s documentary visibility depended on marital status, socioeconomic position, mobility, and the nature of each activity. The article’s main contribution lies in connecting the historiographical debate on women’s work with a methodological reflection on the documentary traces of their training.