HERNÁNDEZ-NICOLAS C.M; MARTÍNEZ-RODRIGUEZ, S.(2020).Mirror, Bridge or Stone? Female Owners of Firms in Spain During the Second Half of the Long Nineteenth Century, Palgrave (Publisher website)

This chapter investigates the roles played by female partners in Spanish firms during the past decades of the long nineteenth century and how legal structures and business survival strategies affected the participation of women in firms. It uses data sets created from the Book of Firms of the Mercantile Register, which contains descriptions of founding owners of all registered firms from 1886. Hernández Nicolás and Martínez-Rodríguez statistically analyse the characteristics of female partners, finding that many of them were widows. They discuss the range of roles played by these women by dividing them into three metaphorical categories: mirror, stone or bridge.