Women, Business, and Finance in 19th Century Milan

Abstract

This paper contributes to the growing body of literature on the relations between women and the economy market by adding a backward and Mediterranean country on the chart of female engagement in the world of business. With regard to Anglophone settings, scholars found women managing small and medium business, entering trade, purchasing shares and “consols”, supporting firms, lending money, and investing capitals for profit. As for Italy, women’s involvement in economic activities is almost completely unknown because of the paucity of studies on the theme. The way the country industrialized played a role in that, as it drove scholars’ attention mainly if not exclusively to corporate and large enterprises, where men were obviously ad lead. As privileged sources of business and economic historians, such as trade directories, narrative tales, family, and company papers often undervalue if not hiding the female participation in the “public” sphere of the economy, this work draws on fiscal sources, tax rolls, and estate returns in particular. Notwithstanding robust limitations of such documents due to the high rate of evasion and elusion in Italy, their examination unveils the relevance of women’s role not only in family business, but also in “petty” trade and informal finance, all activities that were crucial to the catching up process of a “late joiner” like Italy