Women and wealth in Sweden: the case of Uppsala, 1850–1910

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the Swedish context, fairly little is known about the variation in the level and composition of female wealth over the long term. This paper aims to contribute to filling this gap, emphasising the main features of unmarried women's wealth and assessing how it evolved during the second half of the nineteenth century. To this end, the study relies on a sample of about 500 probate inventories drawn up in the city of Uppsala between 1850 and 1910. The second half of the nineteenth century was a period of transformation encompassing several aspects of Swedish society. The change included the economic and financial structure of the country, as well as the legal framework and the labour market. The research proves that unmarried women's wealth increased in the period here analysed, even though dissimilarly between spinsters and widows. Their wealth changed also from a qualitative point of view, as shown by the increasing presence of specific assets such as real estate and stocks recorded in their inventories. Among the several factors that can be retraced at the origins of this phenomenon, the development of a more equal legal framework and the evolution of the housing market seemed to have played a major role.