GENDER, LABOUR, AND STATE FORMATION IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY SWEDEN

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines how the system for organizing resources created by the Swedish state in the sixteenth century was formed by, and intersected with, local societies. By looking at the organization of the local administration and economic production within crown demesnes and estates, this article nuances and broadens the understanding of the early phases of the fiscal-military state. It shows that notions about gender and especially the gender division of labour were important for the organization and further development of the state in its endeavour to mobilize and transform resources. This article argues that gendered divisions of labour and traditional ways of organizing work and administration played a crucial role in the first phases of early modern Swedish state formation; women's work affected the organization of the state and vice versa. By looking at the emergence of the male official and the all-male bureaucracy from a gender perspective, and by emphasizing the household as an organizational form, the present study contributes to the understanding of both state formation and gender relations in the early modern period.