Mujeres al frente de sus hogares. Soledad y mundo rural en la España interior del Antiguo Régimen

Abstract

We currently know little about solitude in the rural world. This paper aims to call the atention about the need to promote this type of research in Spain, and provide some initial indicators starting from the analysis of women as head of households in inland Castile during the Ancien Regime. In this regard, we adress the different characteristics of the households, their structure, size and composition. We also deep into the number of women that resided with no male relative. To that end, we compare general data with those that correspond to female head of households, and the former with the behaviour of the widows aged 50 years or over households. This is a very appropriate age group to study the incidence of solitude, because the possibilities of getting married again are very low and they perpetuate that lack of a male figure reference in the household.