Wages of male and female domestic workers in the Cossack Hetmanate: Poltava, 1765 to 1769

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper investigates wage inequalities among domestic workers in early modern Poltava (present day Ukraine), which was an important military-administrative of a Cossack Hetmanate, which was an autonomy within the Russian Empire. The data are derived from Rumyantsev census conducted between 1765 and 1769 (N = 1,109). While previous studies often measured domestic workers’ wages indirectly, this historical source contains direct information on their wages in rubles per year. The data suggest that age and social status shaped wages of domestic workers in early modern Ukraine. After the age of 29, wages of all domestic workers stagnated and after 40 wages declined significantly. However, male domestic workers of Cossack origin had higher wages when compared to peasantry, while median wages of married women were similar to that of peasant men, and young girls received higher wages than young boys. These findings open a room for a debate about economic power of male and female workers in early modern Ukraine on the dawn of the Russian Empire centralization.