Guilds, gender policies and economic opportunities for women in early modern Dutch towns

The Dutch Republic is widely regarded as one of the countries in early modern Europe in which women enjoyed exceptional freedom. This freedom was especially great in Dutch towns, where women often formed the majority of the population, and played an important role in economic life. It is often argued that the very liberal institutional framework, particularly the favourable treatment of women by guilds, resulted in high levels of female labour force participation not seen elsewhere in preindustrial Europe. 1 This chapter presents a reassessment of this notion by closely investigating guild regulation in one of the most important economic sectors for women: retailing. In most Dutch towns the retail sector was governed by retailers’ guilds, whose regulation prescribed who could engage in retail activities and what activities one could engage in. It is generally assumed that retailers’ guilds were among the most accessible guilds, as they often lacked policies that discriminated according to gender.