Technical innovations at the service of cheaper labor in pre‐industrial Europe. The Enlightened agenda to transform the gender division of labor in silk manufacturing

Abstract

In 1749, Jacques de Vaucanson patented his or tour pour tirer la soie or spindle for silk reeling. Vaucanson's mechanized spindle soon was adopted by most silk producer regions in Europe, at a time when silk was a main luxury commodity in Western trade and manufacturing production. In this article I analyze the introduction of this innovation in Spain in the second half of the eighteenth century. I describe how the Enlightened reformist government promoted its adoption, the main advantage in relation to former spindles being that it could be handled by women, given that less physical effort was needed. Although supported by decades of political and financial support, the diffusion of the Vaucanson spindle was limited. Nevertheless, this case is interesting because it fitted perfectly with a central aspect of the labor agenda of Enlightened reformists: to increase women's labor force participation in order to reduce productive costs and make industry more competitive; and to permit men's labor to be ‘reallocated’ to agriculture, public works and the army. Technological innovation is thus analyzed as part of the economic and social agenda of the period.