Women and authority in early modern Spain
Subtitle: the peasants of Galicia
By: Allyson M. Poska.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2005
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 271
Subjects: Women peasants -- Spain -- Galicia (Region) -- History; Peasantry -- Spain -- Galicia (Region) -- Social conditions; Peasantry -- Spain -- Galicia (Region) -- Economic conditions; Galicia (Spain : Region) -- Rural conditions
Description: "Women and Authority in Early Modern Spain explores how peasant women in Galicia in north-western Spain came to have significant social and economic authority in a region characterized by extremely high rates of male migration. Using a wide array of archival documentation, including inquisition records, wills, dowry contracts, folklore, and court cases. Poska examines how peasant women asserted and perceived their authority within the family and the community and how the large numbers of female-headed households in the region functioned in the absence of men. From sexual norms to property acquisition, Galician peasant women consistently defied traditional expectations of women's behaviour."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: gendering peasant society; title: Women without men; title: Single women and property; title: Sex and the single woman; title: 'A married man is a woman': gender tensions in Galician marriages; title: Widowhood; title: Modelling female authority; title: Beyond finisterre.