The Gender Wage Gap in Early Modern Toledo, 1550-1650

Mauricio Drelichman and David Gonzalez Agudo

Economics working papers from Vancouver School of Economics

Abstract: We exploit the records of a large Toledan hospital to study the compensation of female labor and the gender wage gap in early modern Castile in the context of nursing, a non-gendered low-skill occupation in which men and women performed the same clearly defined tasks. We employ a robust methodology to valuate in-kind compensation, and show it to constitute a central part of the labor contract, far exceeding subsistence requirements. Patient admissions records are used to measure nurse productivity, which did not differ across genders. Female compensation varied between 70% and 100% of male levels, with fluctuations clearly linked to relative labor scarcity. Contrary to common assumptions in the literature, we show that female compensation in early modern Castile was set through a competitive market, and not according to custom. The sources of the gender disparity are therefore likely to be found in the broader social and cultural context.

Keywords: gender gap; discrimination; compensation; early modern; Spain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 N33 N93 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 pages
Date: 2019-04-03, Revised 2019-04-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen, nep-his and nep-lab
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Related works:
Journal Article: The Gender Wage Gap in Early Modern Toledo, 1550–1650 (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ubc:bricol:mauricio_drelichman-2019-7

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