Valuing Women's Work in Late Medieval England

This project seeks to value medieval women's domestic unpaid work, this work supported and sustained the household through a 'core' economy, but it is ignored within economic theory as it is considered to be 'non-market activity' despite its likely high value. Women would keep hearths alight, cook, wash, clean, attend to and feed family members, fetch water, make and mend clothes, tend to any livestock or garden to provide for the household and various other tasks that were essential for the productivity and stability of the household. At the same time women would often undertake commercial activities within and away from the home to further support their household. This could include domestic jobs such as spinning, weaving, carding, brewing, baking, selling household surpluses, these jobs were tied to the house and could be done during and in addition to domestic chores. This project will observe both women's industrial and remunerative household tasks to come to a conclusion on how valuable medieval women's work was, we also ask whether or not non-market unpaid work can be valued; if economic partnerships are observable within medieval households; whether women's work was more valuable in urban commercial settings than a rural agricultural context; all whilst tackling a negative over-arching scholarly narrative that medieval women had little impact or value in comparison to their male counterparts. This project will seek to fill the gap in determining how 'profitable' and valuable to the household women's work was.
To achieve this the project will observe various contemporary documents such as prosecutions of substandard work, such as breaches of assize or breaches of statutes such as the Statute of Labourers for the overcharging of labour and observe cases whereby women sought redress for trading disputes such as those in courts of Chancery or Common Pleas. Work by recent economists, such as Flamholtz, in valuing human resources in non-monetary terms will also be vital in determining a value for domestic work. A range of regions, towns and villages will be examined to allow for comparability between rural and urban settings and to provide for more specificity to certain areas and allow for questions regarding external factors impacting the values. All sources will be both quantitatively and qualitatively analysed to not just obtain statistical data but to assess interactions with official bodies. Medieval literary tropes regarding women's work will also be observed, such as Mirour de l'Omme by John Gower and William Langland's Piers Plowman, to provide a qualitative comparative approach.
This research will contribute towards a number of historical discussions and allow for important questions to be raised regarding long-term gender equalities and its roots. By examining the past, it will highlight the importance and value of the core economy to the economic systems of today.