A Status of Her Own: Women and Family Identities in Seventeenth-Century Aveiro, Portugal

Abstract

Through the examination of a set of baptismal records from Aveiro, a coastal town between Lisbon and Porto in northern Portugal, this study explores the ways in which women were identified in relation to their families and community, and in relation to their economic occupations. The findings show that of the approximate 2,600 names of parents and godparents who were noted in the parish registers in the years between 1624 and 1638, the vast majority of them were not provided with a work label. Yet, the inconsistent manner in which women and men were identified suggests that what the church scribe deemed worthy of note did not necessarily reflect the views of the broader community. Although officialdom generally relegated women to their marital or family links, it was possible for a woman to acquire an occupational status of her own.