The tribulations of women in the management of family wealth. The case of Maria Muntaner i Ardèvol (1761-1835)

Abstract

A number of studies have been published on the role male heirs played in the economic development of the country villas referred to as masos in Catalonia, and much has also been written on the role of women in managing domestic affairs in these houses and raising children.  However, there has been little analysis of the challenged faced by those women who took charge of the economic activities at these estates. In a society in which men took precedence in the transmission of inheritances and daughters were seen as the heiresses of last resort, the only women who were only able to manage their own wealth or exercise the right of usufruct over their husbands’ property were widows who had not remarried. This article examines the case of Maria Muntaner Domènech, from Porrera,  a women who was an orphan at a very young age, then an heiress and finally a widow with a daughter. Her story sheds lights on the strategies a woman could use to survive the sort of difficulties she faced throughout her life, all while preserving her property for herself and her daughter. The text will also take a close look at the moments in her life when being a woman caused her additional difficulties.