Vroeë Kaapse en Europese huwelikspatrone

Jeanne Cilliers () and Johan Fourie

No 13/2013, Working Papers from Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics

Abstract: Opsomming: Wat was die gemiddelde trou-ouderdom vir Kaapse mans en vroue in die agtiende en negentiende eeu? Ons vind, deur gebruik te maak van ’n nuwe genealogiese datastel, dat voor die 1850s die mediaan Kaapse setlaarsvrou getrou tussen die ouderdom van 19 en 20 jaar met ’n man wat tussen vyf en ses jaar ouer as sy was. Daarna sou vroue en mans se huweliksouderdomme toeneem om in 1900 ’n mediaan van 24 en 27 te bereik. Wat verklaar hierdie patrone? Vanaf die laat middeleeue is huwelike in Wes-Europa gekenmerk deur ’n hoër trou-ouderdom vir vroue. De Moor en Van Zanden (2010) verskaf drie redes vir die ontwikkeling van wat bekend geword het as die Europese huwelikspatroon: konsensus in die huwelik, erfpagwette, en die ontstaan van ’n aktiewe mark vir loonarbeid. Ons vind dat vir meer as ’n eeu het Kaapse setlaars geen teken van ’n Europese huwelikspatroon getoon nie, selfs al het die Wes-Europese instellings van konsensus in die huwelik en die erfpagwette saam met die seltaars in die Kaap aangekom. Die wil dus lyk of De Moor en Van Zanden (2010) die invloed van hierdie twee veranderlikes oorskat. Uit De Moor en Van Zanden (2010) se drie faktore blyk net die arbeidsmark relevant te wees om die opkoms van die Europese huwelikspatroon aan die Kaap in die middel van die neëntiende eeu te verduidelik. Summary: What was the average age of marriage for Cape Colony settlers during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? We find, using a new genealogical dataset, that before the 1850s the median Cape woman married between the ages of 19 and 20 with a man between five and six years her senior. Only thereafter would the age of marriage for both women and men increase to reach a median of 24 and 27 respectively. What can explain these trends? Since the late middle ages in Europe, the age of women at marriage began to increase. De Moor and Van Zanden (2010) supply three reasons for what became known as the European marriage pattern: consensus, inheritance laws, and the creation of an active labour market. We find no evidence of a European marriage pattern at the Cape, even though both consensus in marriage and inheritance laws were present at the Cape. This suggests that De Moor and Van Zanden (2010) weight the influence of these two factors too heavily. It seems that an active labour market is the only factor that can explain the emergence of a European marriage pattern at the Cape in the middle of the nineteenth century.

Keywords: European marriage pattern; Cape colony; demography; inheritance; women; gender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N30 N33 N37 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem
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