MARTÍNEZ-RODRÍGUEZ, S. (2019): “Mistresses of Company Capital: Female Partners in Multiowner Firms, Spain (1886-1936), Business History (accepted): [https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2018.1551364]

Contrary to the impression put forth in the literature, Spanish women at the turn of the twentieth century played an active and visible role in the business sphere. Using a unique database containing microdata on the founders of Spanish multi-owner firms from 1886-1936, this study analyses the role of female owners and the legal structures that supported their participation in business. In that fifty-year period, over 10% of newly registered firms had at least one female owner. Of those owners, 70% were widows. The majority of those women had management responsibilities in their firm. Multi-owner firms with at least one female owner display marked differences, in terms of capital, number of partners, family ties, and management, from those run solely by men.