International Conference on Urban History (Web)

Venue: Helsinki
Time: 24-27 August 2016
Proposals due: 31.10.2015

Social scientists emphasize that women’s empowerment and economic development are closely interrelated and that, within this relationship, women’s abilities to participate in credit markets is of particular importance (Yunus 2008). Consequently, scholars have been encouraged to investigate this connection from a historical perspective. However, female involvement in credit markets and the gendered aspects of credit have been almost wholly ignored in studies of premodern finance. Those studies which do exist, have demonstrated that women’s participation in preindustrial credit networks was nevertheless considerable, especially in urban centers where trade was intense. Yet these studies remain limited – both in number and scope – by either focusing predominantly on certain periods and places (early modern England), or on certain groups (wealthy widows or Jewish women). Read more and source … (Web)