Gender, Work, and Family Economies: Wet Nurses in Rural Galicia, 1850-1900

• Isidro Dubert García ^[1] ; Luísa María Muñoz Abeledo ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

     Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

     Santiago de Compostela, España

     
• Localización: Congreso Internacional Contemporáneas: Políticas, trabajadoras y hacedoras de sociedad / coord. por Fundación Juana de Vega, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 2022
• Idioma: inglés
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Aproximación al trabajo y a las economías familiares de las mujeres: Las nodrizas de las inclusas de Galicia durante el siglo XIX.
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• Resumen

  • In this article we study the distinct formative stages of the labour market for external wet nurses employed by Galician foundling hospitals in the second half of the 19th century. We focus on changes in the nature of wet nurses’ work due to the benevolence laws (1822, 1836, 1849) that were driven by Spain’s liberal state. We also examine wet nurses’ sociodemographic profile and the geographic distribution of their labour markets. Finally, we explore the economic impact that Galician foundling hospitals had on rural districts, looking closely at the importance of external wet-nurse wages for family budgets.