Development of Culture, Welfare States and Women's Employment in Europe by Birgit Pfau-Effinger

Author:Birgit Pfau-Effinger [Pfau-Effinger, Birgit]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Women's Studies
ISBN: 9781351944717
Google: YAwkDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-05-15T04:31:59+00:00

From the golden age to industrialization

Starting in 1680 the Dutch economy experienced a long period of depression that became even more severe in the 18th century. The small, open mercantile economy of the Netherlands, whose prosperity was based on international trade and open sea routes, suffered particularly hard during the French and Napoleonic Wars. The country lost its function as most important trade centre of the world to England and its economy declined (Buyst/Mokyr 1990: 66f). The demand for labour fell and the population, especially in the urban regions of the western provinces, experienced a period of unemployment and impoverishment. At the same time wages remained high so the country’s competitiveness decreased. As a result, birth rates declined dramatically and the average size of a household fell as well. Nevertheless, the Netherlands was still one of the riches countries in the world, evident, for example, from the fact that the average per-capita income remained high compared to the rest of Europe (de Hen 1985: 5, Madison 1982). An explanation is that agriculture continued to be productive and to develop favourably; Holland was also able to maintain its strong position in colonial trade.

Industrialization started relatively late, only in the course of the 20th century and hence much later than in many other European countries. There are a number of hypotheses trying to explain this development. That of Pott-Buter (1993) I find particularly plausible, that the migration processes to the cities – in other countries a major prerequisite for industrialization – did not take place because on average the rural population was relatively wealthy and not forced (by processes of impoverishment) to leave for the cities and industry.3 This rural prosperity was primarily funded by revenues from international trade with raw materials from the colonies which provided the merchant urban bourgeoisie with high purchasing power. In addition, the incentives to raise productivity in agriculture were significant as there were only few chances for employment in this field and women and children did not participate in farm work.

In the late 18th and early 19th century the political situation changed completely: the French army under Napoleon occupied the Netherlands in 1795 and in 1810 the country was annexed by Napoleon’s empire (Jacob/Mijnhardt 1992). Under the new legal system imposed by the French – the Code Civil of 1838 – women lost a number of their traditional rights as the French system focused exclusively on the rights and freedoms of the male citizen (Sevenhuijsen 1996: 19). The housewife model based on a comparatively equal partnership was transformed into an extremely hierarchical model granting men ultimate supremacy – at least on the level of legislation. The father was given almost unrestricted power; inheritance and the transfer of property, qualifications, identity and family traditions were declared the sole responsibility of the husband (Schama 1988: 351). The question is, however, how far individuals incorporated these changes into their cultural orientation and how far they practiced them in their everyday lives as this kind of gender hierarchy did not develop on the basis of the traditions of the Dutch society but was imposed upon it.

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