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Female Enterprise Behind the Discursive Veil in Nineteenth-Century Northern France

Palgrave Macmillan

Authors:

  • Explores women's involvement in the nineteenth-century Northern France textile industry
  • Analyses why they have left little imprint on collective memory or historical thought
  • Strives to evaluate who these businesswomen were, what challenges they faced, and why they have been forgotton

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
  2. Merchants and Manufacturers After 1850

    • Béatrice Craig
    Pages 87-113
  3. Separating Spheres?

    • Béatrice Craig
    Pages 115-132
  4. Women in Crafts and Retail

    • Béatrice Craig
    Pages 133-158
  5. Why a Continuing Joint Sphere?

    • Béatrice Craig
    Pages 159-182
  6. Generating Incomes

    • Béatrice Craig
    Pages 183-206
  7. Behind the Discursive Veil

    • Béatrice Craig
    Pages 207-238
  8. Back Matter

    Pages 239-303

About this book

This volume explores the role of women in business in nineteenth-century Northern French textile centers. Lille and the surrounding towns were then dominated by big and small family businesses, and many were run by women. Those women did not withdraw into the parlour as the century progressed and the ‘separate ideology’ spread. Neither did they become mere figure heads - most were business persons in their own rights. Yet, they have left almost no traces in the collective memory, and historians assume they ceased to exist. This book therefore seeks to answer three interrelated questions: How common were those women, and what kind of business did they run? What factors facilitated or impeded their activities? And finally, why have they been forgotten, and why has their representations in regional and academic history been so at odd with reality? Indirectly, this study also sheds light on the process of industrialization in this region, and on industrialists’ strategies.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of History , University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

    Béatrice Craig

About the author

Béatrice Craig is Professor of History at the University of Ottawa, Canada. She is the author of Women and Business since 1500: Invisible Presences in Europe and North America? (2015) and co-editor with R. Beachy and A. Owens of Women, Business and Finance in Nineteenth-Century Europe: Rethinking Separate Spheres (2006).

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Female Enterprise Behind the Discursive Veil in Nineteenth-Century Northern France

  • Authors: Béatrice Craig

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57413-8

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-57412-1Published: 16 November 2016

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-57413-8Published: 09 November 2016

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: X, 303

  • Topics: History of France, Social History, Gender Studies, Economic History

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access