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Women and Poverty

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Women and Work in Eighteenth-Century Edinburgh

Part of the book series: Studies in Gender History ((SGH))

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Abstract

In the eighteenth century the financial vulnerability of the credit system affected almost everyone and at times of crisis such as a war (for example, the ’45 Rising, the American and Napoleonic wars) the better-off who suddenly found themselves with financial problems immediately put pressure on the poor. When a landlord needed money he could turn to his tenants and put up the rents. Tenants who were unable to pay could be removed and new tenants who were able and willing to pay taken in. This is reflected in the many surviving petitions in which help is asked for those who had been virtually thrown out on the street along with their families. Many of the processes of sequestration that survive in the City archives and elsewhere were requested by creditors, men and women, because of rent arrears. As will be discussed later, the possibility of finding themselves with nowhere to live was a constant threat to the poor, particularly to women.

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Notes and References

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Authors
  1. Elizabeth C. Sanderson
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© 1996 Elizabeth C. Sanderson

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Sanderson, E.C. (1996). Women and Poverty. In: Women and Work in Eighteenth-Century Edinburgh. Studies in Gender History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24644-1_6

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