Labour market engagement by women is an important determinant of female autonomy that may also affect their demographic behaviour. In order to bring about the conditions for the female autonomy that characterized the European marriage pattern (in which women had a say in the decision about when and whom they marry), women needed to earn a decent wage. This is clearly affected by the gender wage ratio and the possibility of women earning their own living and having the option of remaining single. So far no attempt has been made to compare the wages of women across Europe over the long run. In this article we provide evidence on the wages of unskilled women for seven European countries (represented by cities or regions within these countries) between 1300 and 1800. Our evidence shows that there were two worlds of female labour. In the south of Europe women earned about 50 per cent of the wage of unskilled male labourers, a ratio that seems to have been fixed by custom. In the northern and western parts of Europe this ratio was much higher during late medieval period, but it showed a declining trend between about 1500 and 1800, a change that was caused by market forces.

中文翻译：

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女性劳动力的两个世界：西欧的性别工资不平等，1300-1800 年†

女性参与劳动力市场是女性自主权的重要决定因素，这也可能影响她们的人口行为。为了为欧洲婚姻模式中的女性自治创造条件（在这种模式下，女性在决定结婚的时间和对象时有发言权），女性需要获得体面的工资。这显然受到性别工资比和妇女自谋生计和选择保持单身的可能性的影响。到目前为止，还没有尝试比较欧洲女性的长期工资。在本文中，我们提供了 1300 年至 1800 年间七个欧洲国家（以这些国家的城市或地区为代表）非熟练女性工资的证据。我们的证据表明，女性劳动力存在两个世界。在欧洲南部，女性的收入约为非熟练男性劳动者工资的 50%，这一比例似乎已由习俗确定。在欧洲北部和西部，这一比例在中世纪晚期要高得多，但在 1500 年至 1800 年之间呈下降趋势，这是由市场力量引起的变化。