ABSTRACT

Widowhood has been a strongly gendered experience, and elderly widows, in particular, have traditionally been seen as one of the most vulnerable groups in society. This article observes remarriage behaviour and widows’ living conditions in the Russian Baltic province of Livland in the post-emancipation era. Detailed findings are presented for one community in the parish of Paistu and two communities in the parish of Helme. The article combines cross-sectional and longitudinal population data with community court records. The article aims to show that if the economic situation of the widowed people improved in the post-emancipation era, older widows (>40) increasingly used possible alternatives to remarriage. The area of investigation was characterised by low propensity to remarry (less than 20%) and the likelihood of remarriage among the landless diminished over the course of the nineteenth century, but among landholding peasants, the decline became more pronounced in the second half of the century. The vast majority of the farmer widows and over half of the landless widows lived with their children, unmarried or married. The upkeep of the elderly was arranged through intergenerational cohabitation both among the farmers and the landless. Court records indicate that farmers’ widows were properly provided for and, if the children happened to be reluctant, the court compelled them to fulfil their legal obligations to their mother or stepmother. The average number of years spent in widowhood was 19 years and approximately 60% of all women widowed between 1834 and 1885 lived longer than 65 years.

摘要

丧偶是一种强烈的性别歧视经验，尤其是老年寡妇在传统上被视为社会上最脆弱的群体之一。本文观察了解放后时代俄罗斯波罗的海的利夫兰省的再婚行为和寡妇的生活状况。详细介绍了Paistu教区中的一个社区和Helme教区中的两个社区的详细发现。本文将横断面和纵向人口数据与社区法院记录结合在一起。这篇文章旨在表明，如果寡妇的经济状况在解放后的时代得到改善，那么年龄较大的寡妇（> 40岁）将越来越多地使用可能的替代方式进行再婚。调查区域的特点是再婚倾向低（不到20％），无土地者的再婚可能性在19世纪期间有所下降，但在土地持有者中，下降的趋势在下半叶更为明显。世纪。绝大多数的农民寡妇和半数以上的失地寡妇都与未婚或已婚的子女生活在一起。老年人的养护是通过农民和无地农民之间的代际同居安排的。法院记录表明，农民的寡妇得到了适当的照顾，如果孩子们不愿意，法院会强迫他们履行对母亲或继母的法律义务。