- The gender perspective reconfigures economic history by questioning traditional frameworks, sources, and narratives.
- From the 19th to the 20th century, female authors and activists documented women's work, property ownership, education, and political participation.
- Research in business and finance shows their role as workers, investors, managers, and shareholders.
- From pioneers to Nobel laureates and global leaders, a more complete and empirical narrative is consolidated.
The relationship between women, economics, and history is far deeper than is often acknowledged. For centuries, women have worked, invested, taught, and theorized , yet their presence has frequently been relegated to the background of grand narratives. Today, with fresh perspectives and extensive research, this picture is being filled in with names, facts, and arguments that challenge the traditional view.
The interest in telling this complete story is neither a recent fad nor an academic whim. From social historiography to economic and business history , fundamental works, critical reviews, and research agendas have emerged that encourage the integration of gender as an analytical category, intersecting it with class, race, and institutions. And all of this has occurred within a social context that reminds us that silence does not correct injustices or omissions, neither in the public sphere nor in textbooks.
Framework and key elements of analysis with a gender perspective
One of the most influential contributions to understanding how to integrate women into history was Joan W. Scott's approach to gender as a category of analysis. Her thesis emphasized that gender is a social construct embedded in power relations and permeating institutions, laws, cultures, and markets. This moved beyond the idea of simply "adding women" to a pre-existing narrative and instead challenged the very foundations that had rendered them invisible.
From this perspective, it's understandable why several reviews have described the relationship between economic history and gender studies as a kind of "complicated marriage." Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk proposed a more integrated approach , arguing that economic history tended to operate with a supposed neutrality that erased gender dynamics, while women's history sometimes distanced itself from major economic processes. Her solution: interdisciplinary collaboration and a cross-pollination of methodologies.
In the company's history, self-criticism has also been strong. The error of treating "women" as a mere variable , without rethinking the frameworks that shaped structures, markets, and practices from male perspectives, has been highlighted. Recent contributions call for rethinking narratives, concepts, and institutions, and not just recording exceptional cases.
All of this has had a corresponding impact on teaching. Guides, best practices, and innovative teaching methods have been disseminated to teach economic history from a gender perspective, so that the classroom stops reproducing inherited biases and starts incorporating sources, debates, and authors that were previously conspicuously absent.
From the 19th to the beginning of the 20th: precursors and debates that changed the tone
The 19th century was pivotal in enabling women to give voice to their economic and social experiences. Several authors used history as a critical tool against their exclusion, insisting that they had been present and active. Among the pioneers, Margaret Fuller published a key text in 1845 that challenged domestic relegation and criticized historical interpretations that subordinated women; it was not a conventional “scientific” treatise, but it was a huge step in the development of a feminist perspective.
Also of great impact was the chronicle of the American suffrage movement, collected in several volumes edited by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and Ida Husted Harper. These compilations documented campaigns, speeches, and organizations , and vindicated women as political and social agents, filling gaps left by the dominant historiography.
Nineteenth-century socialism fueled the debates surrounding feminism and suffrage. Friedrich Engels linked the women's question to the class struggle , offering an influential, though somewhat biased, interpretation regarding the autonomy of feminist demands. Within this same reformist framework, Beatrice Webb, a leading figure in Fabianism and co-founder of the LSE, denounced wage discrimination and job insecurity, and reflected on how consumers and housewives could influence the everyday economic system.
As the 20th century dawned, the activist drive and the desire to disseminate knowledge intersected with a wish to systematize evidence. The result was a series of works that focused on labor, industry, education, property, and institutions , paving the way for future economic studies with a gender perspective.
Work, industrialization and development: from the workshop to wages and from subsistence to the market
Alice Clark, in her work on women's labor in the 17th century, argued that industrialization separated home and employment, deteriorating women's economic position and pushing them into unpaid work. Previously, life and production coexisted; with the factory, many were excluded from "visible production," redefining their status within the family and the market.
Ivy Pinchbeck nuanced this picture by studying the British Industrial Revolution: she showed that there were also new opportunities, especially in textiles , and that regulation and debates on labor rights opened, albeit with limitations, avenues for improvement. Her approach inaugurated a more nuanced historiography on working conditions, wages, and the adaptation of women workers to changes in production.
Ester Boserup brought about a fundamental shift in the analysis of development in non-industrialized countries. She demonstrated that, in many agrarian economies, women had been crucial to production . The transition to cash crops and technological modernization tended to marginalize them, increasing the value (and wages) of men's labor and relegating them to lower-paying or invisible jobs, with greater economic dependence.
Claudia Goldin reshaped the narrative of female labor force participation with long-term evidence for the United States. Her famous “U-curve” described a nonlinear evolution in female employment , and her work on education and social norms showed how access to secondary and university education transformed careers, families, and expectations. She also conceptualized the “motherhood penalty” as a key component of wage inequality.
Historian Jane Humphries, for her part, questioned averages that obscure concrete experiences and criticized the ease with which British industrialization is interpreted through additions that minimize the work of women and children. Her proposal: to reconsider narratives, sources, and categories , and to tell the story of industrialization also from the perspective of those who experienced it under the worst conditions.
Company history, finances and markets: from the office to shareholder action
From a business history perspective, the study analyzed how gender and organization were shaped simultaneously. Angel Kwolek-Folland studied corporate offices between 1870 and 1930 and showed how gender norms and perceptions conditioned hierarchies, careers, and corporate culture in banking and insurance, when the "white-collar" profession began to become feminized.
In the late 1990s, academic journals began publishing special issues on women and business, amplifying a previously scattered debate. Extensive thematic and chronological compilations were published, bringing together research on property, law, trade, agriculture, industrial labor, and management, from the late Middle Ages to the 20th century.
In historical finance, a pioneering collective volume focused on shareholders, savers, and investors, and their relationship with accounting and management from the 18th century to the mid-20th century. Specific figures, investment networks, risk appetite, and portfolio performance were discussed in relation to questions that remain relevant today.
Recent reviews have been unequivocal: the dominant business narrative continues to marginalize women , except when a study truly adopts an inclusive approach. Hence the insistence on moving beyond “women” as a category to rethinking institutions, corporate culture, concepts, and questions. The assessment of the last quarter-century shows remarkable progress and, at the same time, room for more radical change.
Economists and pioneers: popularizers, thinkers and practitioners
In the early days of political economy, Jane Marcet published "Conversations on Political Economy," a book that made complex concepts accessible to a broad audience and encouraged other women to engage in economic debate. Harriet Martineau took this commitment to popularization to its highest level with her "Illustrations of Political Economy," while also advocating for civil rights and challenging unequal institutions.
Rosa Luxemburg, a leading figure in critical Marxism, offered her own interpretation of accumulation, crisis, and the role of money , and debated democracy and revolution with leaders of her time. Her work, written even while she was imprisoned, remains relevant for discussing tensions between the market, institutions, and social conflict.
In the United States, Edith Abbott distinguished herself as a suffragist, academic, and public servant. She was a pioneer in applied statistics and social analysis , participated in the development of Social Security, and held leadership positions that were largely inaccessible to women of her generation, at the intersection of research, public policy, and social reform.
Joan Robinson, one of the most powerful voices of the 20th century, revolutionized microeconomics with her theory of imperfect competition and contributed to macroeconomic debates on growth and distribution. Although she never received the Nobel Prize, her legacy shaped entire research and teaching agendas at Cambridge and beyond.
The Hispanist and economist Marjorie Grice-Hutchinson linked her academic life to Spain, studied the School of Salamanca and the scholastic tradition , and left a lasting mark on the history of economic thought, with international recognition and a long university career.
Mary Paley Marshall also deserves mention. Among the first Cambridge students who, despite taking the exams, was unable to graduate because she was a woman , she was a professor, co-author of a classic textbook with Alfred Marshall, and a key figure in the institutionalization of economics in Bristol. She embodies perseverance in the face of formal barriers.
If we look at the financial and business world, several biographies break the stereotype of passivity. Abigail Adams managed investments in early government debt against the advice of those close to her, multiplying her wealth; Victoria Woodhull co-founded the first all-female stock brokerage firm on Wall Street with her sister; and Hetty Green, a legendary investor, made her fortune with discipline and patience, buying stock at the bottom and selling at the peak.
Deirdre McCloskey, with her work on rhetoric and persuasion in economics, opened a new line of inquiry that humanizes the discipline , explaining how arguments and values operate within our theories. And Christina Romer, as head of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Great Recession, helped design countercyclical policies in times of crisis.
Nobel Prizes and global leadership: influence and decision-making
Elinor Ostrom was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics for her analysis of the commons and cooperation. She demonstrated that diverse communities can create effective rules for managing resources without relying exclusively on the state or the market, using an institutional and empirical approach that had a tremendous impact.
Esther Duflo, along with Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer, expanded the use of field trials to evaluate anti-poverty policies , transforming how interventions in education, health, and microfinance are prioritized. Their experimental approach redrew the map of development economics.
Claudia Goldin crowned decades of historical and empirical research on women and the labor market, unraveling the causes of the wage gap and the motherhood penalty , and showing how education and norms have guided life decisions and career paths.
In the institutional sphere, Christine Lagarde was the first woman to head both the IMF and the ECB, setting a precedent for leadership and visibility in top economic circles. At the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva continues this trend, and at the WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala leads a key institution in global trade.
Janet Yellen broke records as Chair of the Federal Reserve and as Treasury Secretary, Gita Gopinath paved the way as Chief Economist of the IMF , and Pinelopi Koujianou (Goldberg) led the economic division of the World Bank. In Spain, Margarita Delgado became the first female Deputy Governor of the Bank of Spain, contributing to financial supervision and stability.
Contributions from Spain and from academia: monographs, debates and teaching
A landmark monograph coordinated from Spain brought together research on the presence of women in economic thought and professional practice. Elena Gallego Abaroa brought to light the work of Jane Marcet, Harriet Martineau, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, and Harriet Taylor Mill , four 19th-century authors linked to the classical tradition who championed progress, education, and economic participation.
In that same dossier, Miguel Ángel Galindo analyzed the criticisms of several economists against neoclassical orthodoxy , demanding training, equitable remuneration and dissemination; and he connected early contributions on consumption with debates that would later be popularized by Keynesianism.
José Luis Ramos Gorostiza reviewed Beatrice Webb's diaries and letters and her journey to Stalinist USSR to understand her shift from Fabianism to a more favorable view of planning. Estrella Trincado engaged in a dialogue with Rosa Luxemburg about crisis and value , highlighting the importance of money, risk, and the institutional framework in economic cycles.
Begoña Pérez Calle traced the genesis and scope of imperfect competition in the early work of Joan Robinson; María Teresa Méndez Picazo followed the transition from domestic accounting to professionalization ; and Luis Perdices de Blas examined the place that the enlightened Pablo de Olavide gave to women in education and the labor market.
Other works from the same set studied contemporary business structures in Spain, the presence of women in economic research , the evolution by professional groups in banking (2000-2008) and entrepreneurial capabilities, with proposals for public and business policies aimed at equity and productivity.
16th-19th Centuries: Business and Finance in a Different Light
An international congress focused on the 16th to 19th centuries provided a forum to re-examine women's participation in business and finance. The premise was clear: their role was minimized for too long , despite their activity in trade, textiles, and rural credit, and today we have documentary evidence that corrects this.
The first thematic axis explored written culture and education, both theoretical and practical. What did they read and where did they learn? Manuals, schools, factories, and forms of access to knowledge were analyzed , dismantling the idea that they only engaged with moral or religious texts.
The second focus was on occupations and jobs, including those shared with men, exploring the alliances and frictions involved. It was important to measure participation, survival strategies, and regulation , and to question the "bourgeois model" as the sole pattern of female experience.
The third focus was on asset management and the conflicts surrounding its maintenance: debts, lawsuits, and family agreements. Although legal representation was typically handled by men , studies reveal a significant presence of women in domestic and asset management and decision-making.
The fourth theme addressed entrepreneurship and business management. Many initiatives arose from necessity and the search for income in changing contexts. This led to the emergence of self-employed women who took advantage of legal loopholes and market opportunities, sometimes skirting regulations, to sustain their own and family businesses.
The summaries of that meeting reveal two things: that the sources do indeed record their presence , and that the supposed total legal dependence is an oversimplification. As the questions become more refined, the economic history of the Modern and Contemporary Ages incorporates real practices and decisions made by women with agency and strategic thinking.
In parallel, university teaching and outreach have been more systematically incorporating this perspective, with chapters, guides, and classroom experiences. The aim is for the next generation to study economic history without the usual gaps and to use conceptual frameworks that include care work, unpaid labor, and the interaction between social norms and institutions, as demonstrated by studies on advances in Byzantine medicine.
The focus has also broadened in the publishing world and in specialized journals: monographs, literature reviews, and blind peer reviews have helped to bring coherence to a field that, thirty years ago, seemed fragmented. Today, the challenge is not to prove that “there are cases,” but to rewrite the architecture of the narrative.
Challenges remain, from measuring unpaid work to identifying biases in historical data series, and reviewing indicators that claim neutrality. But the direction is promising : more data, better questions, and narratives that connect the micro with the macro, and the biographical with the institutional.
If we take everything we've seen into account, economic history with a gender perspective has moved from asking "where were the women?" to explaining "how the economy functioned with them involved," the barriers they faced, and their strategies. From 19th-century activists to contemporary Nobel laureates, from the offices of early capitalism to monetary policy boards , the map has become filled with key figures, concepts, and evidence. And while not everything has been said, no one can claim that this is merely a footnote: it is an essential part of the central argument about how our societies grow, change, and organize themselves.
