Working Women in English Society, 1300-1620

Using substantial new evidence to explore the diverse ways that English women participated in the market economy from 1300 to 1620, Marjorie McIntosh challenges traditional views of this "golden age" as well as more recent critiques. She argues that women's engagement in the market economy fluctuated widely under the pressures of demographic, economic, social and cultural change. Thus, although they enjoyed unprecedented opportunities following the plagues of 1348-49, these opportunities had largely eroded by the late sixteenth century.