Brouwen, branden en bedienen. Werkende vrouwen in de Nederlandse dranknijverheid, 1500-1800

Brewing was always one of the household activities women performed. Some of them brewed more than needed for their own family and sold the surplus to others. During the Middle Ages commercial brewing in Dutch towns evolved and in a short period brewing industry became to be dominated by men. However, even when breweries became highly commercial and capital intensive enterprises, women still worked in them, both as owners and as employees. The production of brandy did not originate from household activities. For a long time brandy was used only medicinally and produced exclusively by male pharmacists. When it became a popular drink in the course of the seventeenth century, market oriented production started in which both men and women got involved. Widows of brandy distillers continued production and trade after their husbands deceased, and married and unmarried women opened their own distillery. The sale of alcoholic drinks was performed by different groups; sellers who only sold beer or brandy, publicans and innkeepers. Also among these groups were both men and women, although their contribution varied between occupations and over time. Surprisingly, the capital required to start a company appears to have had a crucial impact on the position and opportunities of women in Dutch drink industry. The influence of available capital was much stronger than the influence of factors as economic trends, marital status or institutions like guilds and governments, which in other occupational groups and countries are often considered much more decisive. To examine the presence, position and opportunities of women working in early modern drink industry, Marjolein van Dekken performed extensive research in four Dutch cities and several villages. She compared the Dutch women with women working in the same trades in England, Germany and the Southern Netherlands.