A doe in the city: women shareholders in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain

Freeman, M., Pearson, R. and Taylor, J. (2006) A doe in the city: women shareholders in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain. Accounting, Business and Financial History, 16(2), pp. 265-291. (doi: 10.1080/09585200600756282)

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of women as shareholders in joint stock companies, and how far they can be characterised as active investors. It is based on a large database of company constitutions, together with procedural records and the pamphlet literature of the period. The penetration by women of the private sphere of investment did not always extend to the more public sphere of participation at shareholder meetings. Literary representations of women as speculators reinforced such boundaries. While the separate spheres may have been blurred, considerable limitations were set on the extent to which female shareholders could participate fully in the governance of joint stock companies.

• Item Type: Articles
• Keywords: Women and finance, joint stock companies, shareholders, corporate governance
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Freeman, Dr Mark
• Authors: Freeman, M., Pearson, R., and Taylor, J.
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HG Finance; H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Economic and Social History
• Journal Name: Accounting, Business and Financial History
• Publisher: Routledge
• ISSN: 0958-5206