ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the important role the medieval women played in urban economy, even as independent craftswomen and traces the restrictions those women encountered in the labour market. In the vast majority of records, craftswomen are not explicitly mentioned, although a certain number of independent women were actually engaged in various kinds of crafts and trades, known mainly because their earnings were assessed. The space occupied by women was always limited within European guilds, 45 because, among other things, independent female entrepreneurs represented undesirable competition as the tension between male members of guilds intensified. Women could therefore learn the weavers' profession and achieve the rank of forewomen, but they did not enjoy the same guild membership privileges as their male counterparts. From the beginning of the sixteenth century, again, no independent craftswomen were mentioned in Jihlava's ordinances, despite the fact that local cloth industry started to intensify exactly in this period.
